Pat Guthrie's Dive Log

We went on a shop trip (www.sevenseasscuba.com) to dive the fingers in Newport and after reading the reviews of it on this site, I was a little concerned we might be in for a bad dive. We got there and timed the dives to be around slack and found the entry was a bit difficult- clambering over large boulders that make up the jetty. We got into the water and dove the 4th finger first. I was pleasantly surprised! Lots of life, decent viz, and the current was mild thanks to the timing. We swam around it twice and got back out. We intentionally had a short dive (30min) so we could squeeze in another before the current picked back up. We dove the 3rd finger this time and it was a bit easier to get in. This place could use some stairs as a diver entry. This was a good dive too- lots of fish, greenling, nudibranch and I even got a video of a juvenile wolfeel in the open!!! We were a bit late hitting the water so the current was ripping along. Crossing over the tip of the finger was more like hand-over-hand on the rocks than swimming. On the sides of the finger, the current was much less. It was fun as we worked our way back to the tip---when we went around, we flew along the edge like drift diving to the entry point....we were really hauling and it was fun since you could tell we were heading the way we wanted to go anyway. I would highly recommend this dive for Oregon and other divers...just be careful of the current and entry. Time it to bracket the slack and if you can, go with folks that are experienced. I posted a dive report on my favorite forum for this dive with pix and video: enjoy! http://www.nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=9606

This dive was fairly fun. The pipeline and 1 boat were easy to find but the north boat eluded us. Lots of anemone, crab, bottom fish, some nudis, jellies and squid eggs. I had a decent time and would probably go back soon. Good photo ops with the relatively clear water and easy diving. The park itself is nice too and they have DIVING here :)