Question about visibility in June.

[LowDrag]

I have been wondering what the visibility generally like in June in the area around Sekiu Washington. I did OW in June last year summer at Sunrise in Hoodsport and the visibility sucked. You could hardly see the diver next to you. This June I may be doing AOW with an instructor that prefers to go to Sekiu Washington at Curly's Resort. So what I am wondering is this, is the visibility gonna be typically the same or is there enough water movement to keep the algae bloom down or minimized? I want to get my AOW done but I also want to do it when I can see something. Any info would be greatly appreciated. I know it is pretty much a broad question but any ideas, thoughts or info would be helpful in deciding when to go.

Thanks in advance...

[Tom Nic]

Don't know about Sekiu specifically, but viz in June generally sucks in Washington. Sometimes mid July sees an improvement, and I clear my calendar and start diving in earnest in August. Aug thru Oct are my favorite times to dive in the PNW because of the generally amazing conditions.

[Dusty2]

I would guess that your chances are better there than anywhere around here but you do have to consider the krill bloom too.

[Don-B]

You don't get the algae bloom as bad. The vis is should run about 10-20ft.
Are these going to be shore dive's from the jetty or boat dive's?

[LowDrag]

Thanks for the replies gents. The dives are going to be from a boat. This instructor does most everything from a boat. Can't say what he does for shore dive training as we have not discussed that yet. I know we are doing the normal Night/Low Viz, Deep, Buoyancy and Nav but seeing as he does his training from his dive boat we get Boat Dive traning thrown in at no additional cost.

[LCF]

Algae blooms are cyclic -- you'll have a week or so of buildup, a few days of really ugly viz, and then the stuff begins to coalesce into "whale snot", and you'll get a couple of days of pretty reasonable viz before the cycle begins again. You could hit crud, or you could hit pretty decent viz. And sometimes you can get below the worst of it -- I've done dives where the top twenty feet was all but opaque, but then you burst out into clear, dark water.

[CaptnJack]

Vis out on the Strait tends to be consistently a little to alot better than more protected places like Hood Canal. The potential for weather related cancellations is vastly higher though.

[maelstrom]

I dive the Sekiu jetty the second week in August on our way to Neah Bay. The visibility is pretty poor, and probably worse than that in June. It was quite a bit worse in 2012 than 2011, possibly due to the Elwha dam removal dumping millions of tons of silt into the Strait.

Hal

[CaptnJack]

possibly due to the Elwha dam removal dumping millions of tons of silt into the Strait.

Maybe, most of that sediment actually goes east and builds the bar which is between the Elwa and Port Angeles spit. The bar is actually quite sediment starved and gravelly-ier than it was before 1900. But I don't doubt that some of the fines goes every which way depending on the tides.

[LowDrag]

Well..it turns out that I misunderstood my instructor as to what location we would be diving for training. We will be down closer to Hoodsport but still diving out of his new boat. Either way it will be good times. I am almost looking forward to crap visibility. I know some are thinking, "What the hell?!?!?!" If you think about it though, diving in bad soup makes everything else look good. Hey...look at me being positive, that's a twist for me. You all have given me some great info and I appreciate it. I look forward to going up to Sekiu and Neah Bay in the fall and diving up there.