Recommendations for Puget Sound and Hood Canal Diving

[sharkbaitDAN]

Those of you recommending Neah Bay - is there a local dive operator that you would recommend for boat dives or guided shore dives? All I found was Curley’s Resort and Dive Center, which looks like a motel with a tank filling station.

There are no operators out there permanently, the dive season is summer only (due to unpredictable weather), and only when there are favorable tidal conditions. Think six, non-consecutive weeks in a good year. No one took a boat out to Neah Bay this year because Neah Bay is on Makah tribal land, and is currently closed to non-members. I also am curious if people have been out the last few years, there are pretty extensive urchin barrens at some sites these days (last 3-4 years). I have not been diving West of Sekiu, but I work with researchers who are out there annually. As to Curley's, it's a motel. Didn't know they had a compressor, but it's been 6 or 7 years since I was last there. The closest shop I know of to the area is Octopus Gardens in Port Townsend, several hours away.

On a different topic, I did Sund Rock today as a day trip from Seattle. ~2h driving around each direction. It was my first time there, won't be the last.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Those of you recommending Neah Bay - is there a local dive operator that you would recommend for boat dives or guided shore dives? All I found was Curley’s Resort and Dive Center, which looks like a motel with a tank filling station.

Here's one site description I found: Waadah Island Fingers

Note the closest land is about 1500 feet. I think you could scoot across there. Just make sure you have extra juice going back and have a buddy or backup. Definitely not a surface swim. That's the way I'd like to go. It is a huge area under the surface and I barely scratched the surface of it on a couple dives. Massive wolf eels, GPOs, and such a variety of fish.

The only person I know who takes a charter out there is Bill Minton of https://www.northwestdivecharters.com/.

Of course, not this year.

 

[diver00011]

@Trailboss123
If Sund Rock is the main attraction in the Hood Canal, then I am not sure that I would want to travel and stay in that area for an extended period of time. I am wondering if Sund Rock would be viable as a day trip from closer to Seattle. I did find this shop on Bainbridge Island, which offers guided dives of Sund Rock.

I frequently do day trips to Sund Rock from the Seattle area. It's very doable and a pleasant drive, but do plan to make an entire day of it. You can make the trip with or without ferries.

 

[explore_DMC]

Just my two cents, but Sund Rock, Octopus Hole and Flag Pole are all great dives and an easy day trip from Seattle. I understand many divers are in the older age bracket, but outside of that I don't see any reason to hesitate in the "long" surface swims here. My gf and I have gone to Flag Pole and the others several times this summer.

We enjoy Sunrise Beach in Gig Harbor to see all the swimming scallops, but again everyone seems to fear the hill.

If you do go up to the San Juans, Keystone Jetty is an easy shore dive with a lot of life/color.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Keystone Jetty is an easy shore dive with a lot of life/color.

I wouldn't be so nonchalant about Keystone. The currents there can be tricky and divers have been blown out into the ferry lane. The captains have never been happy about that.

 

[pauldw]

A little question about making a trip work. Some dive shops in my area take a week or two to do air fills (or at least, nitrox fills). If I were to drive up there and explore, say Sund Rock, Alki Beach, and Edmunds Underwater Park, that would take three or four tanks worth of air, and I only have two tanks. So, which dive shops in the area would be most likely to do same day fills?

 

[explore_DMC]

Generally all of them, in my experience, can do same day fills. I'm usually filling 4 at a time and some times I need to wait a hour or so. I either wait or go grab food somewhere.

YSS is just down the road from Sund Rock and they do same day fills. If I need tanks right away, I stop there after my dive to get topped back off.

Between Sund Rock and circling back towards Alki (assuming you don't take the ferry), you'd pass multiple Underwater Sports locations (Olympia, Tacoma, and Federal Way), Tacoma Scuba and Lighthouse Diving in Tacoma, Eight Diving and TL Sea diving in Des Moines. There are probably more that I have not used.

I don't recall if any shops are exactly by Alki anymore, but Underwater Sports just down the road from Edmonds Park can do same day as well. It wouldn't hurt to go in before a dive a pick up a laminated map for $10 (I think).

 

[g2]

Octopus Gardens in Port Townsend can generally do nitrox fills while you wait. They're closed Sundays so plan ahead.

 

[pauldw]

For Sund Rock, Alki Beach, and the Edmonds underwater park, I gather they're a short walk into the water, without much current. How much does tide level matter at these particular sites?

 

[OrcasC205]

Alki (Cove 2) and Sund Rock are not really tide or current dependent. I generally try to dive Edmonds on a high tide since it is really shallow anyway. If you're talking about Alki Junkyard when you say Alki Beach, then you'll want to dive near a slack in the current.