1,300 Miles, 50* Water, and the Rewards

I just pulled in from an epic road trip that was shorter than I would have liked, but still a great time. I packed up the family and headed West for a little trip to the Pacific North West. All I'm going to tell you is that I was in Washington State, but if you know much about the N.W. it isn't hard to figure out where I was. I dropped off the wife and kids to have fun with another good friend in Seattle and headed out as fast as I could without forgetting something important.
I rolled out of Seattle with a College buddy (from what seems like yesterday, but isn't) to do a little Shrimping with a group of serious high end winos I had never met. We ate Toro and Hamchi sashimi on the way to gather some Clams and Oysters from the cold, surprisingly clear water-while sipping some wine I could never afford.:drink1::drink1: Limits of shellfish and a healthy buzz and we were back on the dock. A great start to a run and gun type long weekend. I ditched the wino shrimpers with a hangover in the afternoon and headed on another four hour run to meet another good buddy rolling down from North of the Border to do a little diving.
Lets start by saying when you dive the N.W. in spring, you are as wet in the water as out. Rain, rain, rain. But, for a guy coming from a fairly dry climate it was honestly nice for a couple days. I rolled into the campground, cracked a couple beers and we set up camp. There were already a few fish in the box since I was a little late getting to the campground after shrimping. I throw some live Spot Prawns in the pan with some grilled tomatoes, roasted garlic, and squid. It was an epic fresh carb and seafood primer for a long day of diving to come.
We woke up and decided to ditch the shore dives and get a boat. I'm glad we did, but things do get a bit dicey in an aluminum skiff in decent swells. I do love a challenge though, and I wasn't going to let a little wave get in my way with as far as I'd come. We hit the water that was a balmy 50*-52* green with about 8-12 feet of vis depending on the spot. My new Speardiver 7mm top was more than adequate for diving all day, I can honestly say I was never the least bit cold. We hole hunted caves (with my Awesome new Speardiver light, I may add :D) and well, we did damn well. We dove hard and it payed off. I got to see some beautiful scenery both above and below the water, and take home a cooler of fish.
I came home with a great diversity of fresh seafood for my efforts and the my buddy shot his personal best 43" Lincod, and his first Cabezon. I will post some underwater pics when I download them and see if they turned out.
Here some pictures, I need to get outside and fillet some fish

More Pics, I didn't have the balls to eat the crabs from the Cabezon, but tossed the idea around

Yes, it is that green.

My 44" mid handle with a 5/16 shaft. I also shot a few fish with my 82cm old style aimrite, as my mid is enclosed track and a couple holes got tight.

Quote from dcbatt

I've dove that area15 years ago. Epic scallop spot and PB Cabezone. Nice report.

I'm glad to hear it hasn't lost it's allure.