Nordic Joe's Seattle Snorkel Guide

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.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 10:32 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.