Saltwater State Park jaunt-12/14

[sekhmet]

I feel like I should have a bumper sticker that says "I survived the surface swim at Saltwater" would be my first comment. After that, it was a really good dive with lots of life on the new reefs and all around it. I was surprised at the size and variety of rockfish that have moved in here.
We drove up from Orygun about 3.25 hours. Paid the 10$ parking fee (!!!) and splashed. We knew "slack" was at 12:36 but it turned out later there is no real slack here and then spent a lot of time fighting the current out to the marker buoy. I'm in shape and after 1/4 mile swimming against the narrows current I couldn't swim any more and I had to stop before I puked so we dropped in about 60 fsw and immediately hit the remains of the tire reefs which were crammed with good size coppers and a cool bonus sighting of a sailfin sculpin. We then headed off towards the reef over the remains of the barge- pretty much totally crumbled but watch the sharp edges- then we hit the start of the "fingers" which consisted of small railroad ballast and as you got deeper turned into large rock with huge beams stacked on top. This is where we started seeing the big guys, ling cod, coppers, and quillbacks which are a very good biological indicator of fish community health. On the way back we saw surf perch, scalyhead sculpin, sand dollars, Lewis moonsnail, coonstripe shrimp, etc. very good diversity here. We were hailed by a gentleman on shore who saw our bubbles get blown off so he came down to see if we were OK. We did get blown off quite a bit swimming back, which seemed like it was about 10 miles long!!! Turned out he was Craig Williamsen (spp?) from WSA and he gave us some great extensive history of the construction of the site and some tips for next time... Such as: there is no current adjustment, and there really isn't a slack per se at this site... And crab in slightly above the buoys so that current blows you on them.
All in all, besides a huff and puff surface swim, a very nice dive I would do again. Most impressive colonization in three years. However: we were told it was a current sensitive site and a long surface swim. I will now verify it is indeed. Worth it to see the critters though. Afterwards we went to Redondo and had a fairly boring off gas second tank, not really much to see that day for some reason. I couldn't help but think how nice it would be to have the more semi natural structure at Redondo rather than the junk-but I know people love the junk so I'll leave that subject alone.

[fmerkel]

Much wind blowing? That area is subject to surface currents being so shallow. I've done numerous dives there and had little to no current. So far I just use N. Narrows with no correction factor, but that's subject to revision with experience.

It was not a medium-low exchange so I' a bit surprised you had problems.

[LCF]

We've done two project dives there where there was no current at depth at all, but on one of them, we really got nothing done because the surface current was so strong. It's a site to avoid with a strong south wind.

[Jeff Pack]

My dives there have been no current except one that was hell, but was because of wind/rollers.

Coming back I had to tack against the rollers, took me 20m just to get back to shore.

[Dusty2]

It's really to bad that they didn't put all that awesome structure at Redondo. That would have been awesome!

[BASSMAN]

Thanks for the report!
I have not dove there much, because of the many reviews of, strong current and long surface swims.
When I get a Thursday, with a low exchange and minimal,to no, current, I usually go for about three other S. Sound dive sites.
But with the artificial reef construction at Salt Water State Park, I think it is often under rated.

I need to get back there soon!

[fnerg]

I've had some dives with current, some without. Usually there's not much current at depth, around the big rock piles. The surface swim can be a bit crazy, but you don't need to swim all the way out to the buoys either. I've taken a compass heading, then dropped at 30 feet or so, then just swum the rest of the way on the bottom, which is much more relaxing for some reason.

Saltwater's one of my favorite sites in the area, Alki Fishing reef is like Saltwater on steroids, but it's only a boat or scooter dive.