Kwbyron:
How do y'all find your way around? A buddy and I made a dive there yesterday, swam out to a buoy and dropped down, but couldn't find any lines that are on the map. Visibility was poor, 5', during a second dive I found a couple lines that were covered in kelp, is that pretty much a consensus?
Also, who ran the lines? I'm thinking maybe we should get a weekend together and elevate them so that it's easier to navigate? or should I just keep diving it and get more familiar with the place?
Couldn't find a rope trail? The majority of the buoys are attached to blocks at the intersections of the cinder block and rope trails (except for a couple of buoys with dive flags which are attached to each end of the Triumph). The trails are laid out N-S-E-W covering most of the 34 acre park. Yes, most of the ropes rapidly become habitat, and are difficult to see in the Spring expecially in low vis. Almost all of the rope trails are currently a double cinder block wide, spaced on 5 foot centers and have anywhere from 8 to 16 3/4 inch ropes threaded through them. Saturday we just threaded another 800 feet of rope to extend a new trail, Erratic Way out near the park Boundary.
Work crews of volunteer divers, led by Bruce Higgins for the last 29 years, are the folks who placed the rope trails. He has made this park his pet project for many years and you will find him there every Saturday/Sunday/ and most holidays leading work dives to improve the park.
The underwater portion of the park receives no funding from any City/County/State/Federal source. It survives on a shoestring budget with contributions from divers, the sales of park maps, and support from dive shops like the Edmonds Underwater Sports. The Edmonds Underwater Sports store supplies free air fills for the volunteers, a meeting place for the volunteers each Sat and Sunday morning, temporary storage for projects and materials, prizes for the annual pumpkin carving contest, etc. Their assistance is greatly appreciated!
Pulling the trails out of the bottom is done occasionally on the near shore trails which get buried in the shifting sands. We pulled out Jetty Way on New Years day this year and started building rock piles along it to make it more visible, it is already beginning to show signs of disappearing again. The trails which are further off shore typically don't require this kind of maintenance and have become permanent habitat.
Feel free to come down any Sat/Sun to the Edmonds UW Store and join the work crew at 9:00 AM. Any help is appreciated.
