Scuba Diving The Oregon Coast

Hi I’m Greg from Scuba Happy

If your a die hard diver, then you will at some point have to Scuba Dive the Oregon Coast. From Port Orford in southern Oregon to Garibaldi up north is a wonderful dive experience awaiting you if you venture out. Get your dive gear ready!!!

The water temp will change from one day to the next but its all cold. A diver should have a minimum of a 5mm whether its a mens wetsuit, or womens wetsuit, for a comfortable dive because there’s nothing worse than getting cold under water and suffering the whole dive.

Make sure to select the proper mm of urethane between you and the water.

The visibility of the water is for most divers on the Oregon coast the main complaint, because there is always the possibility the you won’t be able to see your hand underwater. I’ve had to cancel many dives because of black or limited visibility.

Safety Note: Always check your dive gear before a dive and consult you dive gear checklist before water entry, and your scuba diving buddies too.

Being able to configure the tides is very easy for diving on the Oregon coast, typically you must enter the water 1 hour to 30 minutes prior to the tide change, sometimes you must adjust your entry or exit time a bit depending on the weather or other external environmental oddities, like surge, wind, ect….

With the weather changing from wind to rain so fast around this area, it’s always a challenge to get a quality dive, but when you have the opportunity to get one it’s some of the best scuba diving there is.

Be sure and check with local dive shops in the area your diving for tips on where to go and stock up on dive gear you will need. what the best entry and exit point may be.

One very good spot for beginners and seasoned scuba divers alike is in the small city of Winchester Bay (or Windy Bay as the locals call it), at a place called Half moon Bay, Google it and you will find several references and photos.

To find the exact location you go west after you enter Winchester Bay on the main road way, with the boats and the water on the right keep going until you see the road start to go left and you will see a dirt/rock road and a building to the right (used for sand dune rescue so don’t park in front of it), there you will find several parking spots, this is also your staging area where you will put your gear on and ready for the dive.

Work your way slowly in full gear to the rock jetty and across the sand to the large jetty rocks, you will find a series of flat rocks to enter the water into the mouth of the bay from. It gets kinda slippery on the rocks and the water surge can get bad so watch your self, be sure and take a compass heading at this point. Once your on the large flat entry rocks get your regulator in and be ready for anything in case a wave knocks you in.

Once you are in the water drop down to the rocks and follow them all the way to the bottom about 40ft to 60 ft depending on the tide and swell.

You will mostly find small fish and crab at the bottom, if your spear fishing then you will have to work your way in a zig zag up and down the rocks from 10ft to 25ft and flush them out of the rocks, you should find a lot of crab along the way.

You must remember to put on your bucket list to enjoy scuba diving the Oregon coast.

Always dive this on the tail end of the incoming high tide about 30 minutes before the tide flip or change to outgoing low tide, that way you can ride the tide to the end of the rock jetty and around the end into Half moon Bay itself, look out for the boats that are servicing crab pots in that area, This is one of my local favorites and I look forward to seeing you there. Thanks, Greg   @ Scubahappy.com

Life saving Life vest for Water Sports NEW

Hello,  and Welcome again to the Scuba happy Blog.  This week we are looking at a new product, the finest life saving life vest on the market, this is a  New Innovation being used to help save lives, I  want to get this to everybody that enjoys the water and wants to stay safe.

This New Product is called Aqua life Inflatable Shirt and is manufactured byAqualifeglobal.com, and this life vest is amazing for any water activity.

The Aqua Life Inflatable Shirt is a close fitting shirt that is designed to be used in water activities where protection or buoyancy is required. The shirt is ideal for all water sports. The patented zip up front makes the shirt easy to wear and take off.  Aqua Life inflatable shirts are designed for maximum comfort and support. The shirts are double lined eliminating itching, chaffing and scratching.

The embedded and adjustable waist band ensures the shirt stays snug to the body in all conditions. It won’t fill up with water or ride up like a wet t-shirt, or even worse, be pulled off in rough surf conditions. Some of the more frequent uses of the shirt include: swimming, surfing, body surfing, body boarding, water skiing, surf skiing, snorkeling, canoeing and kite surfing. If it involves water, then a “Aqua Life” shirt should be considered. The shirt is available in all sizes and suitable for all ages from 2 to 92. Aqua Life inflatable shirts are available in a variety of colors and can be made with matching company logos and other options. Optional configurations include, but not limited to: short, long or no sleeves, strobe lights, whistles for attracting attention, and many many more.

Specifications

Manual and Automatic Inflator
All Aqua Life vests come fitted with manual or automatic inflators and have a manual inflation tube as well as a failsafe backup. With the Aqua Life Inflatable Shirt, the user is able to manually inflate the shirt through the backup tube to give added buoyancy. This feature is particularly useful in situations like learning to swim, taking a breather while snorkeling and adding a bit more buoyancy when body surfing.

The Aqua Life Inflatable Shirt is fitted with a manually activated inflation system as it is designed primarily for use in water. However, if required, an auto inflation system can be fitted to any shirt. If the inflation is activated, the shirt will inflate in less than a second.

Specifications

Manual and Automatic Inflator
All Aqua Life vests come fitted with manual or automatic inflators and have a manual inflation tube as well as a failsafe backup. With the Aqua Life Inflatable Shirt, the user is able to manually inflate the shirt through the backup tube to give added buoyancy. This feature is particularly useful in situations like learning to swim, taking a breather while snorkeling and adding a bit more buoyancy when body surfing.

The Aqua Life Inflatable Shirt is fitted with a manually activated inflation system as it is designed primarily for use in water. However, if required, an auto inflation system can be fitted to any shirt. If the inflation is activated, the shirt will inflate in less than a second.

life vest shirt

This is a great product, Please visit the website (Aqualifeglobal.com) and show your support for this new innovative ground breaking Life saving Shirt vest for all water sports around the world.

Thanks for reading my blog and look out for the next one. Thanks Gregory  @ Scubahappy.com.

October Newsletter Scuba Happy

A view from the heavens of the wonderful Woahink Lake.

Howdy all, and welcome to the October Newsletter for Scuba Happy, with Summer over and Fall beginning,  it’s finally here, October that is, and now its time to get ready for the Goooooools and Goblins.

October is a rainy month usually in Oregon and especially on the Oregon South Coast, where my home headquarters is located. The rain brings a lot of limited visibility Scuba diving here on the coast but there are still several diving avenues to take when trying to find a nice spot to dive. You can look to Eastern Oregon areas and do some fall River or Lake diving to keep your skill up and running.

A very popular spot in Eastern Oregon is Clear lake, This would be a High Altitude dive so your diving times would have to be watched but I have been there several times and it has always bee a great time. You can see the under water petrified trees that are only visible from under the water.

Woahink Lake, located just North of Florence Oregon, is always a great spot to hone your skills when you are wanting to keep diving during the Fall and Winter months. Always remember to go through you Diving Gear before you head out to a site. You can organize an event and meet with other Scuba divers there at Woahink because they have a shelter and several picnic tables, and the diving is fun  and there is a lot to investigate and real easy on the Dive gear. Through the years many objects have been placed under water at several locations for new divers and Scuba divers honing their skills to find so it can be much fun.

Here is a Map of the Lake and Parking area and the location of all the underwater objects to hunt for.

Woahink Lake Diving Map

There are many boats and other neat stuff to search for.

And just across Highway 101  and oposite side of the highway is Honeyman Campground, and there is a a few areas to dive and nice places to park, if you venture to either of these areas contact me at my Website Scubahappy.com and I will grab my dive gear and meet you there or I can give you additional instruction on where to go. Here is a Coupon Code (0001) for  5% off your entire cart at checkout.

This is my First Newsletter for Scubahappy.com, we will post our Newsletters on the 1st Friday of each month, and our Blogs will Post weekly, we may post more Blogs if we find and want to inform our readers of  new innovations that are available or possibly new and exciting products that our readers may enjoy.

Remember if your Scuba diving off the Oregon Coast and need more information, please contact me at my website Scubahappy.com and I will get the Information for you so you can have a Great dive. Here’s to having a Great diving Month.                           Have a Scubahappy day.  Greg

Scuba Diving the Oregon Coast (Winchester Bay-Triangle)

Scuba diving the Oregon Coast (Winchester Bay Triangle) is a very easy and fun dive, it is called the triangle because the jetty rocks form a Triangle (view the Photo in Post) , also the home of Triangle Oysters where they raise the oysters and harvest for sale and is located in the Boat basin area close to where the boats are put into the water at the boat dock.

So Grab you Dive Gear and lets go.

You will find  The Triangle access road if you stay on the main road keeping the water and the boats on your right heading west.

When the main blacktop road starts to make a left you will see a gravel road off to the right, this is the road you will want to take, you will pass the emergency storage building for helping dune accidents .

If you continue up the gravel road  you will see a opening in the fence on the right side, this is where you turn to get into the parking for the triangle area.

Once you arrive at the parking area you will see the Coast Guard lookout tower, this is used for watching the water condition and looking for any stranded boats that may need assistance.

You can park alongside the road and begin to get your dive gear ready. Once you are ready you can work your way in the sand to the water’s edge.

In full dive gear walk out into the water so you can begin to put your scuba fins on, once you have your dive fins on  start swimming or back kicking your way to the center of the triangle, get close to the rocks and drop down to the rocks below, if you are too far away from the rocks you may loose your way and end up in the sand and have to surface later just to find out where you are.

There are 3 Culvert tubes that go thru the rocks and this is the way some of the fish get into the triangle from the bay opening. So if you stay relatively close to the tubes you should se some fish.

You can work your way under water to the other end of the triangle where it is a lot of sand and once there start you under water journey back to your entry point.

You will usually see many fish and everything else you would see in the open ocean, but this diving area is all enclosed so it is not affected by the surge too much, and the tide changes come slower too.

I have dove this spot many times and it is very fun to take your time and have a easy dive and not have to fight the currents and surge.

This is a very good scuba diving spot for a beginner, and gives you a way to test your dive gear,  with no water surge or current you can explore your heart away and not have to worry.

Enjoy and let me know how your dive was at my website, Thanks and have a great Dive. Greg  at Scubahappy.com  ( 5% off  entire cart on dive gear with this Coupon (0001) at checkout).

Scuba Diving Winchester Bay Oregon (Half Moon Bay)

Scuba diving Winchester bay in Oregon on the Oregon Coast is always a challenge, with the weather changing in the blink of an eye you have to keep alert to changing weather and water conditions.

Always check weather conditions when you and your buddies are planning a dive and always be prepared to cancel a dive if the weather is too severe.

Be sure and make this dive during the tail end of the high incoming tide, or slack tide, which means there is a small window of about 30 min to 1 hour that the tide will make little movement at that time.

You can follow with the incoming tide current and not have to struggle against the tide, so it’s kind of like a ride with the current taking you for a ride.

Winchester Bay on the south Oregon coast is a very beautiful place for scuba diving and  any other outdoor activity you can think of so get you dive gear ready.

The community  of Winchester Bay is a very quiet place  full of things to do,  and trying out your new dive gear is one of them, local scuba diving is one thing I love around here.

Half Moon Bay is located at Winchester Bay just head towards the water and keep the boats and the water on your right when driving through.

The main road will take you to the sand dunes, for 4X4 action and adventure, when looking for Half Moon Bay we leave the main hardtop surface road on to a gravel road that takes you to the Coast Guard tower for watching for distressed boats.

As you see in the photo above Half Moon Bay is in the bay but out of the main current and swells that bombard the shoreline.

Just as you turn onto the gravel road there is a small building to the right, that building is used to store the emergency vehicles used for emergency situations that come up from time to time out on the dunes.

You can park in the area just before the emergency building, back up you vehicle and start getting your diving gear on.

Once your dive gear is on you can make your way towards the rock jetty across the sand towards the bay, it is a bit of a trek and walking through the sand in full gear can be tiresome but not too bad, just take your time.

Now you will want to take a compass bearing across to the other side of the north jetty so your return trip will bring you back to the south jetty rocks.

After you have arrived at the rocks you will find a series of large flat rocks that you can enter the water from, the best way is to slowly work your way along the slick rocks to the flat rocks, once there sit down on the rocks and put you fins on, being sure to keep your air regulator mouthpiece in because you can have a large wave come up on you without notice during swells.

When you have your gear securely ready you can enter the water,  float on top of the water until You are ready to descend.

Now you can descend to the rocks below. Once on the rocks you can start to work your way to the bottom, there is a lot of beautiful colors and underwater structure when going to depth, the large rocks will hide many fish and crab that you will see.

When you are on the bottom close to the rocks you will notice there is less current, so stay close to the rocks for more control.

If you are fishing with a speargun you will need to work your way up and down the rocks to scare the fish out into the open. There are several varieties of fish that call these rocks home, Lingcod, Black Bass, cabezon, pileing Perch, and many more. (TIP: always check your dive gear and speargun bands before heading out to spear fish).

The current will take you to the end of the rock jetty where you can work your way around the end and into the Half Moon bay, there are a lot of crab at this spot so take you time and save some air so you can check out this area.

You will come back up into about 4 feet of water , this is where you can remove your fins and walk back to your vehicle.

If you decide to try this dive, and I would, please leave me an email at scubahappy97459@gmail.com and If I can I will come down and join you.

Thank You Very Much,  and keep diving  Greg @ Scubahappy.com

Diving The Oregon Coast Florence Fish ladder

When you are diving the Oregon Coast Florence Fish Ladder at the Florence north jetty you are in for a treat, there are a lot of very interesting sites and many ways to get your bounty of some very tasty Cockle clams, a Very tasty morsel if you like clams.

As you see on the map there is plenty of parking at the site, You can back you vehicle up to the fish ladder opening and prepare for the dive, very handy parking area, there are a few picnic tables that are there for you lunch plans after the dive.

I always recommend taking a buddy with you for safety’s sake when diving this area because there are strong currents and surges to deal with and it is always a good practice to have a dive buddy with you in any situation and always check your dive gear with a mandatory dive gear checklist prior to heading out.

After you have put you gear on you can work your way down the fish ladder steps to the opening of the structure. Once at the opening get into the water and put your fins on and mask. float your way to the mouth and take a compass bearing of the Green buoy that is visible looking east from the opening of the rocks.

After you have your compass set and re-checked your dive gear you can descend slowly to the rocks below, you will see a Large Pipe you can follow down to the bottom, once at the bottom check and adjust your position to head towards your compass heading you set on the surface.

As you follow your compass heading towards the green buoy you will see a lot of clams and crabs along the way so be sure and take your collection bag to gather clams and crabs for dinner and some wonderful clam chowder.

After following you heading for awhile you will come to a rock ledge that falls off to about 65 feet (depending on tides and current) and this is called the crab hole where you can find some crab and clams also for your troubles, you can follow the rock ledge along the bottom which takes you farther into the center of the bay and you will find some larger boulders there that I have speared some large Lingcod, a local favorite.

When you start to run low on air you can head back up the rock ledge and follow your compass back to the fish ladder, you can head back using your compass and trying to work your way to the right and follow the rock jetty rocks back to the fish ladder opening, once you feel close to the opening you can come up and see exactly where you are and surface swim back to the opening.

This a favorite spot of mine because it is very easy to dive also very easy on the dive gear, and there are clams and crab to harvest, visibility can be an issue but if you trust in your compass and take your bearings correctly you will have a blast, have fun and keep Diving, see you there.  Thanks Greg @ scubahappy.com.

Diving The Oregon Coast, Florence South Jetty

Diving the Oregon Coast, South Jetty in Florence Oregon can bring you a bounty of delicious Dungeness Crab for you troubles and if your lucky some Cockle clams also.

Finding Florence is a fairly easy trek, it’s located about an hour west from Eugene Oregon on highway 101, (101 runs the entire Oregon Coast to the California border.

To find the South jetty you head south on hwy 101, go through Florence and over the Bridge that connects Florence to the south coast. Proceed south until you see a sign for the South Jetty on your right, this is a state protected park so you will have to pay a day use area fee of $5.00.

Follow the road all the way to the Concrete Crab jetty (a large concrete platform that the public is allowed to drop crab pots and fish from.

Once your dive gear is on follow the left side of the rocks, you will be going along side of the left side of the jetty, crawl the rocks down to the water and take a compass heading to the rt side of the marker as you look out into the bay (the pole or marker is a navigation aid and there are a lot of large rocks that the fish and crab like to call home.

Follow your compass heading until you come to the rock pile, there is an opening area that you can go through to access the other side of the rock pile (actually more of a long rock pile, could be 60 ft long and about 20 ft high, prime area for some crab and fish. the rocks are only about 10 ft from the surface of the water, and sometimes partially exposed.

After your Crab bag is full of crab and Cockles you can follow your compass back to shore, be sure and look for more Cockles on the way back.

This is a very easy dive for beginners and professionals alike, but remember to enter the water about 30 minutes before the tide switch, dive during the slack tide and you will have less current to deal with and have easier hunting for crab, you can dive this area on a low or high tide slack. If there is too much water exchange then you will want to enter the water sooner because the tides change faster during a large water exchange situation. (TIP: Always check you dive gear and complete you pre dive gear checklist prior to water entry.

Be sure to let me know what you think of this area and i’ll see you down under. Thanks and great diving. Greg. Let me know how your dive went in Florence at my Website & Blog  

Scuba Diving The Oregon Coast Newport

looking from the south jetty to the north jetty and the Newport bridge.

Newport is located on the Oregon coast, about 2 hours west of Eugene on Highway 101. This is a beautiful area in the summer months and winter stormy months.

As you first approach the Newport bridge you will need to take a right turn before the bridge and follow the road around and go past the Rouge BEER brewery, and you will go under the bridge and through a state gate to what is locally referred to as the fingers. Get your Dive gear ready.

TIP: Always prepare for a dive by a very extensive dive gear check and a consult you own personal Dive Gear checklist on every dive, (don’t forget, check your buddy too).

The fingers is a straight line pile of rocks that is just visible above the water that follows along into the bay about 60 feet, and there are 4 of them.

There is another dive that you can do just up past the bathroom station. Follow the rocks down to the water and float to the 1st finger, on a fast current you can cover a lot of territory and I don’t think i have ever not been able to get a big Lingcod and plenty of Black Bass (a local favorite and mine) during the float unless it was very dark water which limits visibility.

Most everybody parks at the 2nd finger (equipped with a very large parking area) and plenty of access to the water, over the rocks of course, and look out the rocks are slippery.

Be sure and take a compass heading directly away from the rocks so when the dive is complete you can follow you compass back to shore, the easiest way to enter the water is to tie your fins to your BCD (using a lanyard of some type) and let them hang so you can have your hands somewhat free to navigate the slick rocks (you’ll need your spear gun of course and I always lanyard it to my BCD also) you can put your fins on in the water.

Once in the water sink to the bottom beside the rocks and work your way along side following the rocks to the end of the finger, be sure to look closely at all the small rock openings for a big fish to be hiding back inside them, and don’t forget your crab net also, there are plenty of crab in the rocks, so bring home your bounty.

The other fingers are very good diving also, but the large parking area is nice for gear removal and not having to walk back to you vehicle in full gear is nice for some folks. Please feel free to comment about your favorite dive atNewport and please join my blog. Thank you very much for reading my post about Scuba Diving the Oregon Coast Newport

Thank You, Gregory Pierce @ Scuba Happy

Diving The Oregon Coast, Florence South Jetty

Diving the Oregon Coast, South Jetty in Florence Oregon can bring you a bounty of delicious Dungeness Crab for you troubles and if your lucky some Cockle clams also.

Finding Florence is a fairly easy trek, it’s located about an hour west from Eugene Oregon on highway 101, (101 runs the entire Oregon Coast to the California border.

To find the South jetty you head south on hwy 101, go through Florence and over the Bridge that connects Florence to the south coast. Proceed south until you see a sign for the South Jetty on your right, this is a state protected park so you will have to pay a day use area fee of $5.00.

Follow the road all the way to the Concrete Crab jetty (a large concrete platform that the public is allowed to drop crab pots and fish from.

Once your dive gear is on follow the left side of the rocks, you will be going along side of the left side of the jetty, crawl the rocks down to the water and take a compass heading to the rt side of the marker as you look out into the bay (the pole or marker is a navigation aid and there are a lot of large rocks that the fish and crab like to call home.

Follow your compass heading until you come to the rock pile, there is an opening area that you can go through to access the other side of the rock pile (actually more of a long rock pile, could be 60 ft long and about 20 ft high, prime area for some crab and fish. the rocks are only about 10 ft from the surface of the water, and sometimes partially exposed.

After your Crab bag is full of crab and Cockles you can follow your compass back to shore, be sure and look for more Cockles on the way back.

This is a very easy dive for beginners and professionals alike, but remember to enter the water about 30 minutes before the tide switch, dive during the slack tide and you will have less current to deal with and have easier hunting for crab, you can dive this area on a low or high tide slack. If there is too much water exchange then you will want to enter the water sooner because the tides change faster during a large water exchange situation. (TIP: Always check you dive gear and complete you pre dive gear checklist prior to water entry.

Be sure to let me know what you think of this area and i’ll see you down under. Thanks and great diving. Greg. Let me know how your dive went in Florence at my Website & Blog  

Scuba Diving The Oregon Coast, Port Orford

When Scuba diving the Oregon Coast, Port Orford, there are 2 options, either you have a friend with a boat, (most boats have to be lowered into the water by a hydraulic strap hoist, manned operated by a friendly dock employee) or you are having to dive from land.

If you have a boat then there are several large rock formations that have a lot of fish for spearfishing if that’s what you into like me. **Safety note **, Always be careful and aware of your surroundings when boating Port Orford, the weather can change without any notice and rough seas can come up on you all of the sudden. Diving Port Orford can be a challenge but well worth it, always check your dive gear and consult your own personal pre dive gear checklist before water entry.

When diving from the shore there are several possibilities for a successful dive. You can dive from the beach to the left of the main concrete dock and enter and exit from the sand, you can sometimes work your way under the dock and get some good diving. Or you can also enter the water on the right side but you have to park on the rt side of the dock and go over the wall and follow a concrete path to a series of large rocks to enter the water.

When entering the water from the large rocks it is best to have a buddy help you into the water and hand your gear down to you after entry, because it is about a 5 ft drop into the water from the rocks, there is sometimes a rope that divers use to get into the water from the rocks.

This dive can take a toll on your diving gear if you don’t be careful because of the way you have to enter the water, so pick your entry method and have your buddy slowly assist you into the water keeping close tabs on your dive gear.

Once into the water you will most definitely have to deal with the surge of waves that consistently crash between the rocks, so get under the water as soon as you can to avoid the waves and surge.

Take your compass heading and plot you course of action, usually I head away from the rocks and follow alongside the dock, there are some very large boulders that are all over the place that will hold some fish gathered around them if your fishing with a spear gun or spear pole.

There is little to no boat traffic so you biggest concern may be underwater limited visibility, if you stay close to the dock and don’t venture too far from it you should see a lot of fish and maybe even some crab.

Port Orford is one of the best dives you can have, under the right weather and wind conditions, Always dive safely with a buddy and you will have a blast, If you have questions please contact me and I will get back to you asap. Thanks Greg

Scuba Happy :)

Howdy, welcome to the Scuba Happy Blog, the topic for my first Blog is to share a story about one of the best of many scuba diving experiences in my life. If anyone has a similar story please let it rip. It was a very cold morning on the Oregon coast in Garibaldi Oregon, We were suppose to have the boat underway at 5 am to catch the tide over the bar. The Captain made the call the trip was on;  He checked his usual sources to find out about the weather and we were off. After a 2.5 hour boat ride we arrived at the site. Everyone was in the water and down. I entered the water and my decent to the bottom was without issue, I got my bearings and started to head to my earlier calculated compass heading towards a large rock swarming with birds. I was about 60 feet down when i started to see the birds swimming under the water to 40 ft to get into a school of bait fish, quite a spectacle to witness. I headed off with my spear gun ready for action. I come around this large rock and immediately seen a very large halibut buried in the sand, (all you could see was his eyes)  I pulled the trigger on the spear gun and the ride was off, that halibut was doing very fast circles round and round until he was right up next to me, I took my stringer and poked it through his eye and he was done, I'm not sure I would shoot a Halibut again it was quite adrenaline rushing experience and I will never forget it. When I got back to the boat they said it was a record halibut for the year and they were all amazed that I was able to keep it, I told them it almost got away, if  I would have missed with the stringer pointed end into his eye,  it would have been a different story, he would have gotten away. Thanks Greg