What's on Your Dive Bucket List?

[Beefcake]

I haven't really studied where the cool kids dive, so my list is much less interesting than most of yours so far. My current list is:

1) Megalodon Tooth dive (Venice, FLA?)
2) Spearfishing for Coho Salmon (SE Alaska)
3) The Glenesslin (Manzanita, OR)

#1 was inspired by the hot treasure hunter chick on the travel channel. Plus, it fits my obsession with finding "treasure".

#2 is just because I fish for salmon so much with rod & reel, and this is the only place I know of that allows spearfishing for them.

#3 is a famous local wreck, but I have never heard of anyone diving it because it is in a spot that gets pounded by the surf. Besides the surf, I'm not sure I can get close enough by boat, and the hike in is horrible. There are actually multiple ships wrecked in this spot due to a cape / mountain that blocks the wind during the summer; without wind for propulsion or steerage, several sailing ships have been pushed ashore by the ocean current and destroyed in the surf (two of them even show as hazards on the nautical chart). Oregon's salvage law makes it illegal to take anything from wrecks in state waters that are over 50 years old, so I don't think it has even been picked over, but there probably isn't much left after hundreds of years of being pounded by the surf. A different shipwreck in the area deposited huge antique cannons that washed up on the shore, giving name to the next town north - "Cannon Beach" (a new one washed up just a few years ago). Another gallion wrecked in this spot with a cargo of imported beeswax prized by the Catholic church for use in ceremonial candles, and people find 20# blocks of this beeswax on the beach at Manzanita after severe winter storms. A golden goblet was found several miles south of this area (the only true "treasure" I have heard of in our waters). The list goes on and on; it's interesting to me because the ships that wrecked were mostly sailing cargo ships from the 17th through 19th centuries.

"In your belly, you hold the treasures that few have ever seen... Most of them dreams, most of them dreams." Jimmy Buffet

[scubarobin]

Originally Posted by Vlane

Like Scuba Pete said, I chose it because I have read one book, The Last Dive, that talks about iti and plan to read others on it. Yes I am young, but isn't the point of a bucket list to make a list of things you plan to do? I do realize that I am far from being capable of diving that wreck as of now but technical diving is my ultimate goal. If it isn't worth diving at that point then I'll choose otherwise.

The point I was trying to make is that the Andrea Doria isn't really a great dive anymore, like it was when all those books were written, so it really isn't a dive you should PLAN to do. There are so many, many BETTER wrecks to dive if you really want to dive a great wreck. Yes, it is something to brag about, but not really more than that. I have a close friend who is tech diver, deep wrecks are what he does most, and the Andrea Doria is considered pretty low on the list of "great dives" to strive for (he knows people who have done it in the past and they talk about it). This past year he dove a real galleon that is fully preserved in one of the Great Lakes at over 300' depth, and a WWII wreck in the DeadSea both of which he says were fabulous dives. He has also done Scalpa Flow in Scotland, which he loved.
So my point is, the Andrea Doria gets books written about it, but it isn't the great dive you think. I have nothing against wanting to do cool wrecks, I love them too! But the cost and difficulties involved with diving the Doria do not make it accessible to most people, plus it just isn't the great dive you read about in the books now.

robin

[TJDiver]

Originally Posted by Beefcake

I haven't really studied where the cool kids dive, so my list is much less interesting than most of yours so far. My current list is:

1) Megalodon Tooth dive (Venice, FLA?)
2) Spearfishing for Coho Salmon (SE Alaska)
3) The Glenesslin (Manzanita, OR)

#1 was inspired by the hot treasure hunter chick on the travel channel. Plus, it fits my obsession with finding "treasure".

#2 is just because I fish for salmon so much with rod & reel, and this is the only place I know of that allows spearfishing for them.

#3 is a famous local wreck, but I have never heard of anyone diving it because it is in a spot that gets pounded by the surf. Besides the surf, I'm not sure I can get close enough by boat, and the hike in is horrible. There are actually multiple ships wrecked in this spot due to a cape / mountain that blocks the wind during the summer; without wind for propulsion or steerage, several sailing ships have been pushed ashore by the ocean current and destroyed in the surf (two of them even show as hazards on the nautical chart). Oregon's salvage law makes it illegal to take anything from wrecks in state waters that are over 50 years old, so I don't think it has even been picked over, but there probably isn't much left after hundreds of years of being pounded by the surf. A different shipwreck in the area deposited huge antique cannons that washed up on the shore, giving name to the next town north - "Cannon Beach" (a new one washed up just a few years ago). Another gallion wrecked in this spot with a cargo of imported beeswax prized by the Catholic church for use in ceremonial candles, and people find 20# blocks of this beeswax on the beach at Manzanita after severe winter storms. A golden goblet was found several miles south of this area (the only true "treasure" I have heard of in our waters). The list goes on and on; it's interesting to me because the ships that wrecked were mostly sailing cargo ships from the 17th through 19th centuries.

"In your belly, you hold the treasures that few have ever seen... Most of them dreams, most of them dreams." Jimmy Buffet

Hey Beefcake...ewwww, never thought I'd see myself calling another guy that particular name! Anyways, the fossil diving near Venice is one of the dives my son and I want to do some day. I can't really speak for the service since we've never been out with them, but I found this guy that takes divers out for some fossil hunting there. http://aristakatcharters.yolasite.com/

[Beefcake]

Originally Posted by TJDiver

Hey Beefcake...ewwww, never thought I'd see myself calling another guy that particular name!

Hey sweetie!

Just kidding, but it reminds me of the google search I did the other day for local dive clubs... It turns out that 2 out of 3 of Portland's local dive clubs are for folks that are "light in the flippers".

[inventor]

Originally Posted by Beefcake

Hey sweetie!

Just kidding, but it reminds me of the google search I did the other day for local dive clubs... It turns out that 2 out of 3 of Portland's local dive clubs are for folks that are "light in the flippers".

So they're good with boyancy?

[TJDiver]

Originally Posted by inventor

So they're good with boyancy?

Only if they're sportin' ankle weights and knee pads.

[Beefcake]

Originally Posted by TJDiver

Only if they're sportin' ankle weights and knee pads.

I'm sort of scared to keep this thread going... there are way too many jokes to be made, but I don't know what the moderators' threshhold is. Ah, what the heck, I'll start:

Gives new meaning to "Blowing Bubbles."


(By the way, is there a record for the most number of these in one quoted thread?)

[inventor]

Originally Posted by Beefcake

I'm sort of scared to keep this thread going... there are way too many jokes to be made, but I don't know what the moderators' threshhold is. Ah, what the heck, I'll start:

Gives new meaning to "Blowing Bubbles."


(By the way, is there a record for the most number of these in one quoted thread?)

That must mean they keep their gear in the garage. Because it has to be out of the closet.

I'd like to say this is all in good fun, and no harm meant. I'd like to say that....

Anyone offended feel free to hit me with all the Dueling Banjos, Deliverance jokes.

[Chris at Silent World]

Definitely Truk Lagoon. (Arent we now supposed to say Chuuk?)
Malpelo and Malapascua for the Thresher sharks!

Also the Wilkes Barre down in Key West as every time I go to dive it, it gets blown out

[Desert_Diver]

Truk (Chuuk) LOB in Spring 2011
Australia GBR (preferably a LOB out of Cairns)
Lembeh
Cocos Island LOB
Wreck Alley, San Diego
Red Sea, both North and South
NC Wrecks

I have read a lot about the Andrea Doria but the wreck is so badly deterioated that it doesn't sound like all that much fun. The entire super structure above the main deck has slid off the ship by now. The structural integrity is badly diminished making any significant penetration dive very risky. There are a lot of other wrecks that I would rather dive first.

Art