Trip to Puget Sound From San Diego

[uzun]

I am a San Diego based diver, I do almost all my diving locally here in San Diego/Southern California, but I am seriously considering heading up north to dive Puget sound next spring/summer. I have dove seattle in the past, back in the early 1980's, but not at all recently.

My main purpose would be to get video of some Giant pacific Octopus, and other species that are fairly common up there. Perhaps even engage in a six gill shark expedition if they have those up there.

Can anyone point me to a good charter boat, or dive club I could contact. Is there a month that's best for the six gill sharks? Are there some tricks to getting a giant pacific octopus to come out and pose for a bit, perhaps bring it a crab or something. Like bringing sea urchins to wolf eels?

Any help would be appreciated.

-Roger Uzun

 

[TSandM]

The Bandito charter operation out of Tacoma is a good one in the Sound. In the summertime, Porthole charters is running a beautiful boat out of Neah Bay. I don't know how many GPOs they see up there, though.

It is my understanding that six gills are seen more often in the summertime, but their appearances are sporadic, and in about 500 Puget Sound dives, I've seen one. There is, or was a charter running shark feeding dives, but nobody I know has been out with them, and I don't know what their hit rate is.

Octopus are pretty reliably seen in a number of sites, but in the daytime, they are often holed up deep in the rocks. Sometimes, offering them goodies will get them to interact, but sometimes they aren't interested (especially if on eggs). Seeing them out in the open and moving is kind of like seeing six gills -- it's a treat when you get to do that.

Small GPOs or reds can be found at night pretty reliably, out and about, depending on the site.

The most important thing is to time your visit for good tides, because if you come during a period of very large tidal exchanges, some of our most fertile sites may not be accessible. Also be aware that summertime is subject to periodic algae blooms, which can be quite heavy, and make the visibility very poor (ten feet or less). These are simply unpredictable, although they do tend to be worst in June and July. But I have dived in less than five feet of viz in April, and 80 feet in July, so you never know.

That's one of the fun things about diving for those of us who live here -- It's always a bit of gamble, what conditions you'll have and what you'll find. For someone making a specific trip from out of town to get specific footage, I could imagine it being pretty frustrating.

 

[TSandM]

BTW, I realize my post sounds discouraging, and I didn't mean it that way. No matter when you come, we can help point you to some great diving. It may not be great videography diving, or the video may have to be of things other than the two you listed, but we have some fabulous diving here if your focus is a little broader.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

Hydrus - Specialist In Our Aquatic World is a sixgill dive charter, more a nightdiving thing yet they feed so your almost guarateed, they will find you and octopus,also.
















Happy Diving

 

[ChevaYEA]

Giant Pacific Octopus Gallery
Here is a gallery of GPO photos taken around here that people have uploaded to our website. Each one will link you the the dive site where it was taken. Your most popular ones for finding GPOs are:

Titlow
Day Island Wall
Three Tree North
Alki Cove 2 (not usually but recently it's had some around)
Redondo (if you know where to look)
Sunrise (a boat dive that's sure bet!)

Most of these are accessible by shore but several charters can get you to any of these sites. Both Bandito and Porthole charters are popular

Let me know if/when you plan on coming up and I would be happy to get you out to some of them. They are great animals!