If you’ve watched any of my videos, you know I’m an avid sidemount diver. I started my technical diving career in Mexico where sidemount is the preferred configuration. Since then, I have enjoyed solo diving with two tanks and recreational diving with one. I haven’t been super interested in trying doubles simply because of the weight of the gear and my lack of space in the van. That being said, there are places, like any shore diving with waves, where it definitely makes more sense to use that setup if you want to dive with 2 tanks.

As I’ve always said, we all have our preferences and reasons for diving the gear we like. Scuba equipment is designed to be a tool to do the things you want underwater, so understanding your goals is the first step toward picking the right gear for the job. Then, it’s best to ask for help and guidance either in the form of a course or an experienced dive buddy to learn how to safely use said gear. Personally, I always feel like a toddler when I get into new equipment, so it’s nice to try new things with people I trust.

The Mukilteo Community Beach Park is a popular dive site north of Seattle and Edmonds, known for its geodome. Parking is paid and as of summer 2024, there are portapotties in the parking lot. Similarly to all dive sites in Puget Sound, the tidal exchange can be drastic so the depth of the geodome can vary substantially, but it is well within recreational limits.

I was nervous about walking to the water with all this weight, but it wasn’t too bad. I am not someone who does heavy weight lifting so it’s outside of my comfort zone, and this equipment wouldn’t be appropriate for anyone with shoulder/neck/back issues. It felt like it was pulling on and compressing my spine in all the wrong ways. The solution may simply be a matter of fitting the harness perfectly and building up muscles to carry the weight better.

We started the dive at the geodome. I worked on my buoyancy by playing with different trim positions and swimming through the gaps in the dome. I felt very comfortable in the gear underwater. I would’ve loved to have heavier fins, but that’s how I feel about diving in a drysuit regardless of the configuration. My fins are OMS slipstreams, which I love for wetsuit diving, but I like a short, heavy fin for drysuit diving. Stay through to the end of the video to hear a full review of my experience in this configuration.

The rest of the dive was spent exploring the tubes and sand throughout the dive site while part of our dive team looked for viable crabs for dinner. People often ask me what I think about hunting and fishing, and while I’ve been a vegetarian for well over a decade, I think if you’re going to eat the stuff, this is the best way to go about it. There is no way to know if the seafood you buy is sustainable unless you or your trustworthy friends bring it in themselves.

In my Patreon book club, we’ve been reading a book called The Outlaw Ocean, in which the author covers all the ways fishing and transportation skirt ocean conservation rules and human rights regulations. This has been a topic of interest for me recently because if I decide to cruise with my sailboat, I may get into spearfishing to supplement my diet when grocery stores are not as readily accessible. It’s not something I take lightly. I don’t like the idea of taking a life to sustain me. However, if I do go that route, you know I’ll be bringing you on that journey to share what I learn.

Now, finishing the dive and getting out of the water was a bit of a different story. As with all diving, your energy levels drop throughout the dive as you burn calories, so by the end, I was positively wrecked as I trudged up to the car… I did not make that job look easy.

See what trips are coming up. I always give my community first dibs on spots, so you can sign up for Patreon (and get trip discounts) or my email list to be the first to know about new expeditions in the future.