We want to let them know the water's fine. Come on in. He expects more than 1,000 divers and 3,000 to 5,000 non-divers to attend the second annual Northwest Scuba Festival, which he has organized for Saturday and Sunday in Hoodsport. About 1,500 people attended last year's inaugural fest. The event includes more than 130 dive-related exhibits.
Divers also can go on shore or out on boat dives.
For the landlubbers, the festival offers free introductory scuba and snorkeling classes in a pool or nearby along Hood Canal. This year's fest also is centralized in Hoodsport, as opposed to last year, when diving took place in a different spot along the canal from the land activities. Stratton said the Hood Canal community offers calm, protected waters with limited currents, making it a good site to learn scuba. It's also a central location for divers to come south from British Columbia or north from Oregon, he said. Representatives of dive shops from around the Northwest will be on hand, but you might not find too many Kitsap dive shops represented.