|
A great place to dive! It was easy access to the eastern beach from the parking lot at the Seacrest Boat House at 1660 Harbor Ave. SW. Be cautious, because, the bottom drops off rather quickly. We first did a quick shallow dive to the bottom to test equipment, buoyancy, and the capabilities of new dive buddies. Then a surface swim out to the second piling from the shore on the east side of the cove. It seems to me the bottom depth was about twenty feet at the piling. My dive buddy Stan and I split off from the rest of our party because the visibility got bad real quick. The bottom at that point was covered with muddy sediment that got kicked up by the two in front of us in no time. Once we spit off, the visibility ranged from 15 to 25 feet. We dove in a period of very low tidal exchange and there was no current.
We swam straight out from the pilings to a depth of 86 feet then turned right and explored our way up before looping back to the west. Lots of sea life encountered. Stan and I saw a stubby squid. This one was about the size of a golf ball and was initially perched on some form of sea weed. If you’ve never seen one of these, don’t feel left out, they are rare. And speaking of rare, Sandy saw his first octopus. He got to hold the little guy and see him ink a few times. It was a good dive with lots bottles, artificial reefs, sunken piers, a sunken boat, and lots of marine life. I’ve been told to stay at least 100 yards away from the fishing pier because of the small ferry boat that now docks there. We did a night dive so we had the bay to ourselves. However there were lots of squid jigging fisher people on the pier……so it would be wise to stay far away from the pier day or night. Directions: Off Interstate-5, Take exit 163, West Seattle Freeway, go about 2 mi. and exit at the Harbor Ave. ramp, Drive 0.2 mi. Turn right onto Harbor Ave. SW. Drive about 1.5 mi. to the Seacrest Boathouse at 1660 Harbor Ave. SW.
~ John, Owner
|