Ben & Jake's Excellent (Puget Sound) Adventure - 03/30/06

[airsix]

So, after 20 years and hundreds of dives I'm actually going to dive in the ocean! My little brother (Idaho) and I (Eastern WA) are coming to Puget Sound Thrusday March 30 through Saturday April 1 to do nothing but be brothers, and get in as many shore-dives as we can in 3 days.

Thank-you to those who've already given some great recommendations regarding sites, tides, etc.

We are planning to dive three locations:
* Alki Cove 2
* Edmunds UW Park
* Sunrise Beach

More to come...

 

[airsix]

Queston #1 - Sunrise Beach

I've read as many reviews of Sunrise Beach as I can find (Except for what's written in Northwest Shoredives, which I lent to a friend). Some of the pictures and directions are contradictory and distances vary. I understand how hard it can be to judge distances and directions. It's definitely nice to have so many reviews available.

So, here is a photo I grabbed from Google Earth and marked up with the landmarks I 'think' are correct based on what I'm reading. Will those of you familliar with the site please have a look and see if I've got it right? Any suggestions welcome.

Question #2 - Sunrise Beach - Park Gate open/close times
When is the park opened in the morning and closed in the evening?
Since this is a current-sensitive site and we'll be diving on a high-exchange weekend I'd like to plan this carefully. My hope was to enter before high-slack so any current would carry us South toward the wall at the start of the dive. Then the receding tide would turn the current back toward the entry point after slack. The problem is that this strategy would require diving at 5:30am or 7:00pm (Friday) and I'm guessing the park hours are not compatible with either plan. The alternative would be a dive in the middle of the day at low-tide which would mean swimming out against the current and swimming back against the current.

 

[scubak]

On the days that you mentioned to dive, it is a High exhange and I don't really think you will be able to do Sunrise...
Why not head to the Hood Canal (not current dependant) and you will be able to see the critters that you seek and some great formations?
K

 

[StevenB]

I agree with Scubak, those days will not be good for Sunrise. If you can wait til April 6 or 7, current should be divable in the AM. If you only got a couple days window, check with Banditocharters.com and do a boat dive. They will take you to the places at are good.

Steve B

 

[airsix]

Okay, looking at the current tables for that Friday/Sat. I agree with you guys. I was hoping to use the currents to our advantage - riding the flood out to the site, diving at slack and then riding the ebb back to the entry/exit point. Many of my dives have been high-current river dives (~5 knots) and we just factor 'distance traveled' into the dive plan. I figured this dive could be planned as a 'round trip' drift dive using the same principles, except to make it work would mean hitting the water at about 2:30am and being out by 3:45am. Short window, and wrong time of day for site with daytime-only access. :sad_2: I really wanted to dive this site. We'll just have to do it on another trip planned around better tides.

-Ben

 

[airsix]

Trip prep. update:

Jake inherited gear from Dad a few years ago, but he hasn't been able to use the drysuit because Jake's a tall boy. So... we had to find Jake a new tall-boy drysuit. We found him a Mobby's twin shell pro for $300 on Ebay. It showed up today and it's really nice! The neck seal is a little tired but it will make it through this trip. Otherwise the suit could pass for new.

One step closer!

-Ben

 

[airsix]

On the days that you mentioned to dive, it is a High exhange and I don't really think you will be able to do Sunrise...
Why not head to the Hood Canal (not current dependant) and you will be able to see the critters that you seek and some great formations?
K

Ok, until now I hadn't really considered Hood Canal because of recent visibility reports (month ago - maybe better now?) and thinking it was too far (trying to keep sites grouped together to reduce dry time). But... Mapquest says it's only a 1h:45m drive from Seattle to Hoodsport. Does that sound right? I imagined it would be longer. If it's that short a drive I'm up for it.

Comments?

-Ben

 

[gcbryan]

You can also take the ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton (30 min ferry) and from there it's about a 1:20 drive along the canal. You don't have rush hour traffic to consider which would be the case if you drive around the canal going through Tacoma.

Sunrise can be done on a higer exchange but it won't go as smoothly as you are predicting and I wouldn't recommend trying it if you've never been there before.

Sund Rock is a better dive in my opinion anyway.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

You can also take the ferry from Mukilteo to Clinton (30 min ferry) and from there it's about a 1:20 drive along the canal. You don't have rush hour traffic to consider which would be the case if you drive around the canal going through Tacoma.

Sunrise can be done on a higer exchange but it won't go as smoothly as you are predicting and I wouldn't recommend trying it if you've never been there before.

Sund Rock is a better dive in my opinion anyway.

Ah ... that would be the Edmonds to Kingston ferry.

Mukilteo to Clinton puts you on Whidbey Island ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[airsix]

Ah ... that would be the Edmonds to Kingston ferry.

Mukilteo to Clinton puts you on Whidbey Island ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

It's all good. Getting unintentionally dropped off on an island... now that would be funny.

-Ben

ps - maybe if I started posting some pictures it would liven this thread up some. I'm really a friendly guy when you get to know me.