Nordic Joe's Seattle Snorkel Guide

Welcome to Seacrest Park

This post was originally written 7 26 2009

As much as I enjoy a quick jump into the frigid water, many of my friends or their wives who want to hang out on the weekend don’t.    What I needed, was a place to swim where my non-sea-otter associates could tag along in the relatively dry refuge of a sea kayak.

Google searches and calls around town revealed dozens of places to rent a kayak.  It wasn’t until the day of the outing that I discovered the deception:  They rent sea kayaks, but not on the sea.  There is literally only ONE place in all of Seattle that would rent us a sea kayak, and that was Alki Kayak Tours.  After a half day of incredulous calls to every renter of sea kayaks, I confirmed that there was no other place in Seattle to get a kayak for the Puget Sound.   So the stretch of beaches between the commercial waterway and Alki Beach proper were the only choice for such a group outing.

That's one fast drop-off.

We arrived and easily located the rental office.  They liked the idea of snorkeling the sound and were very very forthcoming with advice.  They warned that large passing boats would create surprise wave surges that made the area surprisingly treacherous – so we were told to avoid the nearby pier where the water taxi lands in West Seattle.  The ammount of fishing going on over there added to my hesitation to plumb the depths beneath the ferry landing.  Soon the kayakers were given a basic orientation and procedures speech and then in the water.   My swim buddy and I soon followed.

Just before getting in, we observed bubbles not 20 feet out from shore.   Perplexed, we stood and watched them as they drew nearer.  Soon divers emerged in full regalia.  I started asking them questions right away.  They told us that the visibility was fantastic here and that they had just been down below where they spotted a giant octopus.  I couldn’t believe that this would be 20 feet from shore, but as soon as I dove in, the precipitous drop-off was obvious.   Visibility was maybe 50 feet, but after paddling a small distance from shore, the bottom disappeared completely.

This was a huge Jelly.

Just 40 feet out, the effect was disconcerting.   I found myself swimming in a sea of pure greenish-blue nothingness. I guess that’s just a sea of…sea.  I don’t know how deep the water was, but it was very deep.  I could see distant jelly’s beneath me, all around me, and some of them were startlingly huge.   Their long trailing tendrils were easily 20 feet long in some cases.   This put me on edge.  Without any other visual cues other than the snowlike litter of tiny white marine critters, punctuated at times with the looming yellow menace of yet another giant jelly, it was like swimming in endless space.  You couldn’t tell if you were seeing into 1000 feet of clear water, or two feet of cloudy murk. I often found myself sticking my head up out of the water just to make sense of time and space itself.  I had no way to gauge my speed, direction, or much of anything else.  A creeping fear of the unknown began to assert itself.  Then came the strange noises.

Being so near a shipping lane, the water was alive with the sound of clanking, banging, gurgling large boats.  I played for a while at trying to match sounds to certain boats.  A dodgy looking old ferry made the sound of a giant metal chain being dragged over a pile of cans in hell.  A large cargo vessel sounded like it was propelled by somebody hitting a dumpster with a bat.

Maybe 20 feet beneath the camera.

Thus, although we began following our Kayak friends we soon broke off pursuit and made for some interesting-looking pilings that were sticking out of the water nearer to shore.

I remembered my earlier Tacoma swim and the potential hazards around broken pilings, so we proceeded with extreme caution towards them – mindful of the unpredictable surge of waves that could come at any time.

I continually dangled my arm and camera as low as I could to make sure I could still see them clearly – having a hard time believing that the soft green we proceeded through was really clear water.

Eventually the clarity was evident far beneath us, the first broken pilings covered in giant anemones other sea life.  As we neared the pilings that still emerged from the water, we saw a dramatic uptic in the diversity and energy of the water around us.  Broken remains of an ancient dock emerged scores of feet below, and as we neared shallower water the pilings crept closer to us until we ended face to face with one large trunk that was absolutely covered in comically large marine organisms.

Check out the size of that star fish!

HUGE sea stars of every kind hugged these ancient logs that swayed menacingly back and forth in the tide.   That motion made me wary of this place as being trapped beneath a falling piling entered my already heightened imagination.   Still, it was worth checking out.  We made sure to avoid touching the pilings as they seemed as alive as any coral that I’ve ever seen.

We followed them all the way back to shore where a particularly nice, already fallen, piling lays across the bottom.  It’s covered in spindly legged crabs, giant sea stars, feeding sea perch, and huge anenomes.   We lingered here for some time.

This star fish has big buns.

Eventually we followed the coast and discovered, upon rounding a headland, that our further progress was barred by a boat ramp and dock.   We beached ourselves and walked north along the shore until we found another place to put in.

The second beach along the “Alki strip” is a sometimes-beach that only really shows up when the tide is out.   We had to scramble down a talus field of rocks to get to it, but once in, we discovered beds of sea grass, schools of sardine, and lots of amazing life.  Of particular interest was a VERY dense school of some kind of long finger-sized fish that moved like a tornado into the deeper water.  The word that came to mind was ‘bait ball’.   Sadly the camera had already been filled, so instead of filming of photographing them, we had to just enjoy the show and frolic with the salty little fellows instead.

"Second Beach" has very clear water.

The water here was clear and deep.  As we proceeded neared a rock wall that separated us from the nearby boat ramp and dock, the bottom once again quickly disappeared from sight.

As we were getting out, we finally witnessed some of the surge that the Kayak shop had warned us about.  Large waves more suited to hawaii than Seattle came crashing to the shore and I was glad that this hadn’t rolled in while I was near one of the pilings.

Huge Spindly Crab.

It was a thoroughly interesting area and a great three-hour swim.  Given the location’s proximity to some truly top-notch swims as well as it’s proximity to shipping lanes, I probably won’t be back any time soon for a swim – but I will definitely go there again to get my Kayak on in the near future.  Then again, its popular for divers and if you are in mixed company, you can swim while others can boat.  If you find yourself here with nothing to do, drop on in – the water’s fine.

Seacrest out.

Jenny got off work early at 5:30 pm and so we took off, picked up with another rental suit for Jenny at ChekaLooka and into the water at Golden Gardens by 6:00.  There were the usual lookers-on and questions to answer for people before we put in:

“Yes, there’s amazing stuff to see out there.”

“Yes it’s cold, but not with a wet suit.”

And one new question:

“Yes, you need a wet suit.”

I forgot my hood but the water was extra warm today.  It felt like around 58 degrees at the shore, so I abandoned my boots and tried to go with naked head and feet.  My feet took it just fine, and that’s great news since my boots don’t really fit in my fins anyway.  I can probably skip boots for most of the summer if I am lucky.  Yet for me the hood was NOT optional.  I did a test swim of about 2 minutes and the ice-cream headache effect came back in full swing.  I ended up running down to ChekaLooka for rental.  On the way back, I noticed a lot of glass in the beach.  Be careful running barefoot at this spot as it seems to be the place where under age kids go to drink beer (or I’m just getting old) and there’s evidence of broken bottles in the sand near the right-rocks put-in.  Buy some cheap flip-flops to leave on the beach while you swim or comfortable dive shoes to wear on the beach and beneath your fins.

After rushing back with a hood, we put in and began our swim out.  Conditions were promising as it was hot, sunny, and the water was very calm but with a steady current at an extra high tide.  Yet two things dampened the quality of this run:

1. The late afternoon sun was at an angle that really seemed to reduce visibility by about 75%.  Conditions that I would expect 100′ visibility were producing something more like 25′ visibility.  Also, the fish were extra jumpy at this time of day, perhaps because it’s the feeding time for larger predators.  If we floated with the current, we could see all kinds of neat stuff, but every time they saw us move, they scattered.

LESSON: Don’t go too late or too early in the day when the sun’s angle will cause most of the light to be traveling horizontally, casing everything in glare or shadow and nothing in visible relief.   The fish are jumpy a these  times anyway, so it’s best to let them be. 6:00 is probably too late to put in at Golden Gardens.

2. I know that I have been advocating for going at high tide only, but this time, the tide was maybe TOO high.  I’d been in out in 9′ high tides at this location twice and had a great time with lots of stuff visible.  Although AyeTides on my iPhone told me this was just a 10.5 foot high tide, it was about 6 feet deeper on the coast than a reported 9.5 foot tide.   The rock we call “Green Joe” was completely submerged with two feet of water over it and the seaweed forest was quite distant from the surface as we swam over it.  Mermaid beach was totally submerged and I could barely stand at the most shallow location by  the sea-wall.  During other high tides it is an exposed sandy beach.  Given that there was a solar eclipse on the other side of the planet, this must have been a spring tide.  As a result, we lost some of our navigational bearings and went much farther up the coast than we usually do.  This also made the deep water stuff more boring in the reduced afternoon visibility.   Coming back, the life in the rocks along the sea wall was much more interesting.

Lesson: There’s such a thing as too much of a good thing.  When the tide is too high, and you are farther from the action in the seaweed forests off-shore.  Take it to the rocks along the shore during high tides and low visibility.  Inversely, I must test whether this means that at LOW tide, when the rocks are terrible and the in-shore swimming is so bad, if the views out 200 feet are significantly better.   It’s possible that the axiom I have been following of “never at low tide” is wrong and that I should be saying: Long beach? Extend your reach.  Distant locations such as Mermaid Forest might look best at low side when surface plunges your closer to the action – or maybe it will be a murky algae bloom.

Only one way to find out.

Weather: Sunny, 80 Degrees

Water: VERY Calm, 45 Degrees, 120′ Vis. High Tide

Famed Dive Spot. Great Snorkel Spot!  Sorry, no photos on this trip as we didn’t bring our camera-having buddy along on this one.  Once again, your loss!

The guys over at DiscountDivers.com suggested this spot to me, and boy am I grateful.

Jenny and I were surprised by two things when we pulled up to park on Beach Drive.

1: The water was crystal clear and we could easily make out submarine life and features from our car.

2: The water was FREEZING. While Golden Gardens was 53 degrees the day before, this water felt more like the mid forties. If you plan to go out in this water, bring your dive skin, hood, and any layers you have. A 4/3 wetsuit will not be enough. I suggest a minimum 5 mil wetsuit, and a 7 mil for the non-nords among us.

Divers have known about this area for decades. Follow the pipeline, about 50 feet below you, through cold but crystal clear water. You will be treated to giant stars galore, plentiful large dungoness, nudibranch, large eels, and all sorts of fascinating fish. The convenience of on-street parking is matched by the easy suit up sitting on logs 1 foot from the water’s edge. This was the easiest place to access of any so far and when that’s combined with the delightful big-fish conditions of the area, you have a real Seattle Snorkel Gem.

We started out by looking for the pipeline and headed South, toward a promising looking rock feature.  Halfway there we found the conditions were just amazing.   Beneath us, sub-ocean rubble created a kind of artificial reef where some new types of fish that I hadn’t spotted before were doing their fishy thing.  After checking that out, we confirmed with one another that is was defiantely colder here than in other locations so far, and decided to skip the rock feature and find the pipeline.   The pipeline was to the North of where the ramp to the beach lets out.  It protrudes from a concrete structure that is visible from the road as you approach the beach.

We followed the pipe out for about 40 minutes to a point about 700 feet out from shore.  Beds of eel grass along the sides produced and unending parade of fascinating creatures who would come from their seaweed pastures to the pipeline thorough fare.  On this trip, we saw an amazing large “Toad Fish” which is basically a swimming mouth, a green Conger Eel, crabs that were 1′ across the back of the shell, schools of the usual fish, some interesting spiny rock fish, tons of giant stars, moon snails a’grazing, and lots more.  We were near the end of the pipe at an area where boats were coming and going – presumably with divers.  I observed my swim buddy shivering.   I called it then and we headed back for shore at a quick pace, as much to keep warm as to get warm.

I can see why this is a famous shore-dive location.  Next time, I will wear a dive skin or a jacket or at least tuck in my hood or something.

Impressions: Given the extreme visibillity, strange and plentiful marine life, and the ease of access here, this run is easily the equal to the Golden Gardens Right Rocks and is currently one of my favorite swims, but bring your 7 mil suit or some kind of layers – it’s a bit nipply.

Caution: Note that there is a bit of a current here.  Nothing major, maybe 1 or 2 knots, but if you don’t pay close attention, you can get moved off the beaten path while surfacing to chat about what you have seen.  Keep an eye on your location.

Safety Note: As you follow the pipeline, you will be heading out about 750 feet into the open water.   Divers will be arriving on boats and trafficking the area so please keep an eye, and an ear, out for boat traffic.  Take your “Diver Down” flag!  I also would lift my bright red fins high in the air on occasion to try and lend extra visibility to my presence.

Ballard as you have never seen it before.

7-17-09 5:00 pm

Sunny 82 degree

High Tide

Some Chop

53 degree water

100 foot vis

Holy cow. I didn’t know Seattle Snorkeling could get this good.

What a great way to test the new wet suit!

Walk the scenic path to the North-most beach access or plod along the sandy way to this northern most part of Golden Gardens Beach and put in for the Northward “right rocks” run.

We put in at the far North-East side of the beach and made our way out about 50 feet and saw an amazing life-scape in the seaweed beds.  Here’s where the crabs have been hiding.   We lingered here watching the sole, sanddabs and other flat fish as well as hermit crabs and dungeness.  We had 30 foot visibility at this point as we played in 20 foot water.

We headed North along the rocks but about 40 feet out from shore, our eyes on the shifting bed of loose seaweed below.

Striped Sea Perch near "Green Joe"

Swimming over this sea-lettuce will shorten your trip unless you are immune to all forms of motion sickness.  This stuff has a way of moving in the water that makes the rocks appear to swoosh back and forth in a rhythmic tide when it’s really you and the sea-lettuce moving.  Once you realize this, you don’t have long before you start feeling woozy.  My buddy and I had to beach ourselves on a piled of long concrete slabs like mermaids in the pounding surf until out stomachs stopped lurching.  I nick-named the place “mermaid beach”.

Seen here, the "Green Joe" feature is named for its sea-sick discoverer.

After recovering, we went on to an interesting rock feature that drew our eye.   As we rounded the headland, the character of the water and the life changed DRAMATICALLY.  Visibility opened up to about 100 feet.  The characteristic green of the sound turned Hawaii blue on us and suddenly there was life everywhere.  A school of juvenile Steelhead kept checking me out.   Then there was a dense school of what looked like Pacific Sardines.  Then we rounded the rock and were stunned to see a school of about 50 large Surf Perch hiding in the shade of the rock.   It was amazing.

When my buddy and I were looking at the photos over pints at Kings Hardware, I asked the waitress where she thought the pictures were taken:

“Well it’s Hawaii isn’t it?”

I proudly corrected her, “Nope.  That’s Ballard – two hours ago.”

I’m not sure she believed me.

UPDATE:  SWIM 6, Golden Gardens Right Rocks 2

7-18-09 5:00 pm

Sunny 85 degree

Ebbing High Tide

Choppy

53 degree water

100 foot vis

I went back the next day and made an important discovery.

I didn’t bring my friend with the camera this time, so no photos and trust me when I say that’s a shame.

But at least I FINALLY convinced my wife to come with me.  She got outfitted at Cheka Looka with a 4/3 wetsuit and some new fins and a snorkel from DiscountDivers.com (their physical store is over on Westlake). We walked up to the beach and faced a fairly brisk in-shore wind that whipping up the surf into something even choppier than what had made me sick yesterday.  I resolved to power through it.

When we got in, the visibility was passable @ 20 feet, but not as good as yesterday.  The surf was just churning things up too much and we were swimming in sea-salad.  Still, we decided to press on and see if things got better to the North.  We learned in swim #3 to never accept poor conditions but to check farther along the shore.  I told her about the shifty sea-lettuce and its affects, but she wanted to go and see it for herself while I followed the nice and stable sand and rocks down to “Green Joe”.    So I muddled along, seeing the occasional Sole skittering away beneath me and feeling a little down that the visibility wasn’t as good as the day before, but I hoped there would still be a show around the corner like the day before.

When I looked up to check on her, she was pretty far out.  Maybe 100 feet from shore.  That made me nervous since I have read a lot about the currents up here and don’t know too much about the boat traffic either.  I REALLY wished I had brought a “diver down” flag with me to float near by, and will do so on my next trip.  I put my face down and swam farther along the coast, past mermaid beach, and wondered why she wasn’t seasick yet from the dancing weeds.   They were a lot worse today as the surf was really churning.  I looked up and she was…gone.

I spun all around, anxiety creeping up as I couldn’t make out any sign of her at all until – ah, there she was, 250 feet out from shore.   What could she be DOING out there?  It had to be WAY too deep to see a thing in this mess, so I wondered if she was in trouble maybe.  Well, I would have to go out and get her to show her the real places to swim – or at least to check on her.

I took a deep breath and put my fins together for some full body swimming and was out to her in 30 seconds or so.  But as I got near, I knew why she was out that far, and it nothing to do with distress.  She had discovered something amazing…a Forrest that was every bit as filled with life as out best trip in Hawaii in water with 100 foot visibility.  Long spindly legged crabs that would span two feet if stretched out made their way among ling cod.  Huge purple and sun-burst stars defied normal scale and that school of Striped Sea perch from Yesterday…was just the small handful from the REAL school that lived out here.

Large eels, Rock Fish, Ling Cod, big Crab…And the plants here, they are just beautiful.  If I get a camera, I’ll post images of this place right away.

We have nick-named the forrest “Mermaid Forrest” since it’s right by “Mermaid Beach”.

Impression: Quite simply, it blew the doors off of every other trip so far.  Golden Gardens Right Rocks is the best run I’ve found.

Lesson: Try more sights that are farther off shore.  The water is more clear and the variety more amazing than the surf-hugging that I’ve been doing.

Safety Note: I will need to bring a “Dive Flag” with me on any trip where I’m venturing into waters where there may be boats.

Oh yeah.   No more messing around at shops before jumping in.

After testing a ton of 4/3 suits and comparing to a 7 mil, I have concluded that the best suit for me to use snorkeling in the Puget Sound is a 5 mil.  My father in law was kind enough to donate to the cause and so I had a $200 budget.   I found a Neosport by Henderson that is 100% xSpan material at 5 mil and is an XLS ( Extra Large, Short = ME ).  Even though their sizing guide says it’s for a 200 lb guy at 5′ 8″, it’s a damn good fit for me at 5’6″ and 225.  In fact, if anything, it’s a bit loose.  Still it’s about 10000 times better than any rental I’ve tried on and I can really say that I’ve put this thing through 55 degree water and 45 degree water and been fine in both (a little chilly in the colder water, a little warm in the warmer water). If I get chilly in the winter or want to dive, I can throw a jacket over it and *poof* I have a dive-ready suit.

When I first put it on, I was surprised that it was a 5 mil.  It was a lot easier to get on than the rental 4/3 suits that were supposed to be much thinner.  I can wear this suit comfortably in the car on a warm day as I drive to the beach, which means an easier suit-up at home.   I felt like wind was going right through it, and for sure this would not keep me warm in the water, but it really did the job.   I really shopped around before chosing this suit and I’m terrifically pleased with the results.

Neosport Wetsuit by Henderson 5 Mil

7-3-09

Weather: Sunny

Temp: 85 Degrees

Water Temperature: 53 Degrees

Water Surface: Calm

Water Vis: 40 feet.

Current: Fast

Wetsuit: 4/3 Rental

A blue-green paradise for shy fish and crab.

This was our third time at Golden Gardens and our best trip yet.  It’s right here in Ballard and outfitting at Cheka Looka is so easy and inexpensive, that this seems like a natural place for me to test out theories on the art of Snorkeling Seattle.  I’m always glad to stop in there because they seem so interested in the project that it feels almost like a duty to check in and report my progress to them.

What is it??

Seriously...It's cool but...

Neat Thingy

Today we were testing the notion that conditions along the rocks improve greatly at high tide.  So we put out at Golden Gardens again at the climax of high tide to see if it makes a big difference. Indeed it did.  Within minutes of getting in the water we were sighting all kinds of amazing varieties we had not seen in our earlier runs.

Just 50 feet out from the put-in where the beach meets the left-rocks, we ran into a school of what I think were smelt in a bait-ball dense school unlike anything I’d ever seen.

Going along the rocks, it just got better.  Strange creatures that I can’t name roamed a scenic blue-green wonderland that fluttered within inches of my face.  Again we saw Pen-point Gunnels in the rocks, much more fish, and many fewer crab.  Those crabs that were to be found were confined to the sandy bits, way out from shore and a little too close to the boat traffic for my comfort.  None of the big ones were out, but we soon found out why.

As we neared the pier I came upon a disturbing image.  There was something large and white at the bottom, a shark perhaps?   Then as I got closer I saw it was a dead dog-fish that had been cut up and discarded there.  As I looked up onto the pier, the many lines of crab-pots told the story.   These fish remains served to lure the crabs out to where nearby fishers could catch them in their traps.

Safety Note: Swimming near shore and piers is dangerous enough but without a dive knife it’s suicide.  Be sure to get a good quality dive knife that has a notch in it for cutting line before you go out.  You might consider taking two.