Northwest Diver

Cold water diving is more gear-intensive than warm water diving, but the diversity of marine life and panoramic beauty of the world below the water line are a delight to explore. Try the shallow waters of BC's Hornby Island for a cold water shark dive where spiny dogfish zip around like short fused rockets and you have a good chance of spotting a blunt nosed six-gill shark. Or visit Sund Rock in Washington State, a marine protected area sheltering wolf eels, sea whip beds, various shrimps and crabs and the occasional wandering giant Pacific octopus. When it comes to quality and quantity of wrecks to explore, the Northwest is a diver's playground with warships, cargo ships, and wooden ships dating back to the 1800s. Diving is not limited to coastal areas either, with Montana and Idaho offering opportunities for freshwater adventures just watch out for the 30 to 40-foot Mackinaw Ness Monster! In The Northwest Dive Guide, master scuba dive instructor and Northwest diving tour guide Mike Hughes shares over three hundred dive sites in BC, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana, including drift dives, wall dives, freshwater dives and wrecks festooned in plumrose anemones and patrolled by huge rockfish. With training tips and gear appropriate to cold water diving, indispensable information on local dive operators and shops, and useful dry land advice such as where to go for a meal after the dive plus nearby attractions for non diving travelling companions The Northwest Dive Guide is sure to enhance the enjoyment and safety of recreational divers in the Northwest, whether they've logged hundreds of hours underwater, or they're just getting started.

This illustrated guide introduces the diving sites of the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia. It includes spots at Puget Sound, the San Juan Islands, Vancouver Island, the Canadian Gulf States, Quadra Island and the Queen Charlotte Straits with depth and visiblity details and other information.

The Oregon Coast is well known for its beauty. The rugged coastline with its constant wave and surf action provides the calming sounds of the ocean that all can hear, but a diver also sees the giant kelp forests and gets excited about the promise of abundant marine life, brilliantly colored anemone, sponges, cute little reef fish and huge ling cod, large plate-sized rock scallops, abalone, giant Pacific octopus, and friendly wolf eel. This is truly a diver's paradise. There are no stories of skin divers prior to World War II, but with the development of rubber dry suits and neoprene wetsuits in the early 1950s, divers began to explore the reefs out past the surf and in protected coves near the shoreline. Images of Modern America: Diving off the Oregon Coast showcases the images of a few diving pioneers, early and current dive stores, the beautiful coastline, and the colorful world underwater.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER Pulitzer Prize–winning historian David McCullough rediscovers an important and dramatic chapter in the American story—the settling of the Northwest Territory by dauntless pioneers who overcame incredible hardships to build a community based on ideals that would come to define our country. As part of the Treaty of Paris, in which Great Britain recognized the new United States of America, Britain ceded the land that comprised the immense Northwest Territory, a wilderness empire northwest of the Ohio River containing the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin. A Massachusetts minister named Manasseh Cutler was instrumental in opening this vast territory to veterans of the Revolutionary War and their families for settlement. Included in the Northwest Ordinance were three remarkable conditions: freedom of religion, free universal education, and most importantly, the prohibition of slavery. In 1788 the first band of pioneers set out from New England for the Northwest Territory under the leadership of Revolutionary War veteran General Rufus Putnam. They settled in what is now Marietta on the banks of the Ohio River. McCullough tells the story through five major characters: Cutler and Putnam; Cutler’s son Ephraim; and two other men, one a carpenter turned architect, and the other a physician who became a prominent pioneer in American science. They and their families created a town in a primeval wilderness, while coping with such frontier realities as floods, fires, wolves and bears, no roads or bridges, no guarantees of any sort, all the while negotiating a contentious and sometimes hostile relationship with the native people. Like so many of McCullough’s subjects, they let no obstacle deter or defeat them. Drawn in great part from a rare and all-but-unknown collection of diaries and letters by the key figures, The Pioneers is a uniquely American story of people whose ambition and courage led them to remarkable accomplishments. This is a revelatory and quintessentially American story, written with David McCullough’s signature narrative energy.

With every other diving guidebook offering shore-based dives, this book opens up a whole new world of opportunity for scuba divers in Puget Sound. From Olympia to Bellingham, into Hood Canal-plus a special lake dive on the Olympic Penninsula to visit a submerged town-these 65 dives are described, located, defined by depth and current, and rated according to padi/naui levels of dive proficiency. Also included is information about boat launches near the sites, marinas, and shore facilities. This book answers the most common question asked by scuba divers: "Where can I dive that I haven't already been?"

* Guidebook includes nautical charts, maps, photographs and GPS coordinates for every boat dive * Provides contact information for Washington and British Columbia dive shops, charter boats, and marinas * Scuba divers are drawn to the waters of Washington and British Columbia for their abundant sea life, artificial reefs, and fascinating wrecks In 151 Dives, Betty Pratt-Johnson focuses on the waters she knows best: that of Washington and British Columbia. She has personally completed each dive and chosen them for this new guidebook based on the special features that divers go searching for: wrecks, marine parks, and sealife such as octopus, wolf eels, dolphin, salmon and countless varieties of cold water corals, among others. There are dives here that will appeal to both snokelers and scuba divers, with a good selection accessible from both points on shore or from a boat. Diving in Washington's Puget Sound is an adventure into the same waters that make British Columbia an international diving destination.