Viz around the Sound

[girldiver]

Well, it's the end of May...so thought I'd start this thread.

My reports...

Redondo yesterday was 2' for first 10 feet. I had two students...so that's as far as we got...and I called the dive.

Alki today...about 9 inches of viz for first 15 feet, then opens up and you'll be up to about 10' of viz. Had one student on dives 1 & 2...so didn't see below the 40' mark.

"It's warming up...let's take scuba lessons..." Sure wish they'd believe us when we say the best diving is in the winter.

BONUS: My temp read 54 degrees at Alki today...

[LCF]

54???? That's the warmest water temp I've seen since last summer.

I'm diving Alki tomorrow evening. Luckily, with someone where we can get below the surface layer, but I hope it opens up to more than 10'. If it doesn't, it's still diving.

But I'll drive home remembering 75 degrees and infinite (yes, I said it and I meant it) visibility

[Nwbrewer]

You had 2' ! Mukilteo yesterday in the top 15fsw was dive by brail. I couldn't read my gauges at all, even held against my mask. Below that it opened up, but it was like night diving.

Jake

[Joshua Smith]

Cove 2 was 2-3' for the first 50' or so last night. Below there, it opened up a lot, but there was a lot of snot in the water- we probably had 10-12' of vis at 90 fsw.

[dsteding]

Cove 2 was 2-3' for the first 50' or so last night. Below there, it opened up a lot, but there was a lot of snot in the water- we probably had 10-12' of vis at 90 fsw.

There is a big brown puddle in the inside of Elliott Bay, been watching it grow from my office the last few days.

Should make Tech 1 next weekend an adventure.

[Tom Nic]

Hood Canal at the Pinnacle was 6 inches to 2 feet down to 60fsw, then opened up nicely to 15 to 20' horizontal, but totally a night dive. The bonus was that life is everywhere!

The warmest temp I've seen anywhere is 47 degrees. If it hit 54, even at the surface, that's amazing.

[girldiver]

Today's dive was at Redondo again...and the viz was a bit better. I think 3 1/2 feet in the shallows! So...I'm registering 50 degrees pretty constantly in my OW classes for the past two weeks, in the shallows...and at depth I'm getting 46 - 47.
Could it be that my computer is allowing me my wish of tropical temps?? It seems to work, whatever the reason, as I feel toasty and I'm diving my semi-dry.

[Grateful Diver]

Scootered at Seacrest last evening. Vis above 40 feet was awful ... 4 to 6 feet, I'd put it. Between 40 and 70 it opened up to maybe 10-15 feet. Got progressively better below that. At 110, vis was pretty good.

Scootered northwest ... past Cove 3 and the boat launch and around the point just a short ways ... then made our way shallower back to Cove 3.

Tomorrow it's Possession Point ... plan is for Fingers and ferry, depending on conditions. Sunday it'll be deep ... targeting the MT6, a barge in Elliott Bay at around 200 feet. Monday it'll be EUP (or whatever they're calling it these days) with Cheng and Bob Lew.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[BASSMAN]

At 110, vis was pretty good.
(Grateful Diver)

110 feet with your 150 watt can light all the poor fishes are seeing spots now!

[Tom Nic]

Redondo
At a fairly low tide the viz at Redondo yesterday was between 6 inches and 2 feet from 10fsw to the surface, with a noticeable halo cline. At depth the viz was about 8'.

Three Tree North
At Three Tree North on a very low tide viz was about 3ft. shallow opening up to 15 and sometimes 20' below 40 fsw. As the Summer viz is definitely upon us it is my experience that Three Tree North will consistently have the best viz of the inner sound dive sites - even if that isn't too great. My guess is that there aren't any rivers / creeks spilling into that "bay".

[Grateful Diver]

At 110, vis was pretty good.
(Grateful Diver)

110 feet with your 150 watt can light all the poor fishes are seeing spots now!

My can light's only 18W ... they've come out with 21W, 24W, 35W and 50W versions since I got it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Jan K]

Just returned from Possession Point Fingers. If today is any indication, Bob you should have a good dive tomorrow. First ten feet was a murky soup 1foot visibility, but then it opened up at 18 feet and we had fifteen to twenty feet, not too dark neither, ( unless you go deep ) even with the overcast. plenty of little pieces of seaweed floating in the current, but it was OK. Enjoy the south end of Whidbey

[MorningDiverBob]

At T-Dock Muk. today, A vis 2' at surface, less 3' at 15' and 5'-8' at 35'.

[Joshua Smith]

Did a wee bit of a tech dive today at cove 2 with Rawlings- vis was awful down to about 70-80 feet, and from there to 160, our max depth, it was merely terrible. 4-5 feet at best,(0-2 feet at worst!) shallow, 8-10 feet below that, lots of particulate in the cloudy, cloudy water.

[Tom Nic]

Did a wee bit of a tech dive today at cove 2 with Rawlings- vis was awful down to about 70-80 feet, and from there to 160, our max depth, it was merely terrible. 4-5 feet at best,(0-2 feet at worst!) shallow, 8-10 feet below that, lots of particulate in the cloudy, cloudy water.

Interesting that it doesn't clear up much more even to 160. Thanks for the report.

[Phineas Gage]

Did Muk this morning, it was pea soup with 0'-4' viz for the first 20', below that it opened up to around 10'. Once we got down to the little boat at around 120' it was 15'-20' max.

Weird how the life seems to change from dive to dive, or season to season, or whatever...today appeared to be National Hermit Crab Get Out and Party Day. Those little buggers were like flies on a horse's you know what.

It was fun to watch them go about their business while doing our SS. They seemed to be moving about with an air of deliberate, and somewhat comical, determination. Like each one of them was late to some crucial appointment and they were all in each other's way. Kind of like people at Costco.

[H20doctor]

its pretty bad with the snow melt, and the rivers dumping into the sound...

[nice-diver]

Blue River reservoir oregon
2' at the surface on first dive and 8-15ft when we got down and 44F temp

[Benoit]

Keep the reports coming! I've been out of the water because of a cold but feeling better now I need to plan a dive with someone new to Puget Sound - I'd prefer going to a place we can see something!

I can't comment on the UW viz, but I sailed yesterday from Everett to Elliott Bay. My sonar couldn't see anything from Everett to about 2 miles North of Edmunds. It was a first to me - the water was just too "thick" and I could never get a reading at depth. The Snohomish river flow is still very high and I couldn't see more than a few inches into the water...

Water became more normal around Edmunds - the dirty layer was not more than a few feets on the sonar - and was normal until close to Elliott bay actually where it became brownish again from the Duwamish.

I guess I'll skip Mukilteo for a little while

[Grateful Diver]

Just returned from Possession Point Fingers. If today is any indication, Bob you should have a good dive tomorrow. First ten feet was a murky soup 1foot visibility, but then it opened up at 18 feet and we had fifteen to twenty feet, not too dark neither, ( unless you go deep ) even with the overcast. plenty of little pieces of seaweed floating in the current, but it was OK. Enjoy the south end of Whidbey

Well, we took advantage of an awesome three-day week-end ... went diving all three days.

Saturday Cheng and I went out with Uncle Pug and his son-in-law to Possession Point. We did the Fingers and the ferry.

The Fingers was just as Jan described it ... we dropped down through a top layer of murk and vis opened up nicely. We dropped in a bit north of the wall, but a gentle current helped push us along in the direction we wanted to go, so we found it quickly. The wall was covered with nudibranchs ... and fishing line. At one point I managed to get myself tangled up in a long length of steel leader that was dangling down from above in loose coils. I didn't even try untangling myself, just signaled Cheng and held still while she got it off me. That stuff is nasty. We maxed at about 105 fsw, and as we headed up the current turned, and gently pushed us back the other way. We ascended within just a few feet of where we went down ... which was handy for Pat ... the fellow operating Shane's boat.

Next dive was the ferry. There were many boats fishing around it ... and a couple that were obviously anchored on it. But we went over and waited ... and eventually, as they realized that we were gearing up to dive the wreck, most of them moved off. There's a WDFW buoy tied into the wreck these days, so we tied an extra dive flag onto it and descended down that line ... it was COVERED in fishing tackle. As was the wreck ... Ron and Shane took down a goodie bag and filled it up ... then used a lift bag to send it up where Pat could collect it on the surface. Vis on the ferry wasn't quite as good as on the Fingers ... but still not bad, maybe 15 feet.

Sunday we went diving on the MT6 ... a barge sitting in about 200 fsw in Elliott Bay, basically straight out from Salty's. This was a fantastic dive! The wreck's reminiscent of what the Maury Island Barges must've looked like before they rotted completely away ... the worms have eaten the top railing into fantasmagoric shapes while the bottom part and the decking are still essentially intact. Tons of life down there, including some of the biggest rockfish I've ever seen.

Our second dive was on the Omar, up in Shilshole ... but we missed the current window and cut the dive short because it was stronger than we anticipated and we didn't feel it was wise to work that hard after an earlier deep dive.

Yesterday, Cheng and I hooked up with Bob Lew and Penelope for a pair of dives at EUP (BHUT). To sum it up briefly ... vis sucked down to about 20 feet, then opened up adequately to allow us to enjoy the dives.

Altogether a very nice week-end.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[dsteding]

Bob, we went out to the ferry yesterday but scratched it because of the boat traffic. Eventually did a dive off of Port Ludlow in about 10 feet of vis around some rocks with some stuff on them.

Second dive was on an unknown group of wrecks that we happened across on the depth sounder. These will need some work to identify, there is a big one, a smaller one and a really small one all in close proximity to each other right off shore. Judging by the looks of things it is pre-1950s and in excellent shape, superstructure still intact and sitting beautifully upright on the bottom.

disclaimer: the above may or may not be true.

[dsteding]

Vis at Cove 2 wasn't horrible today, a layer of fresh water did move in during the afternoon, but that was only 5 feet thick or so. Otherwise, I'd put it at 15 feet . . .

Beautiful day, no one out there-just the CCR gang doing a dive on the MT6 and us in AG's class in Cove 2.

[Benoit]

Redondo yesterday wasn't bad. 2 ft visibility up to 20fsw, then opening up to about 10-12 feets at 45 fsw.

The water was quite warm; 54f at the surface down to 50f at 45fsw. I think I need to invest in a lighter undergarment...

[nice-diver]

Winchester Bay, OR
sat 5/31
8 ft on the surface and 2-5ft viz from 2foot down to 49foot deep and 51F Like diving in pea soup.

[BDub]

Alki Reef had a solid 20' of vis today, as shallow as 10fsw.