Northwest Dive Club

We are staying in gig harbor soon. There’s a park called Kopachuck that’s nearby- on the map and other descriptions online, it says there’s an underwater park there with the same name.

I wondered if anyone here has dove or heard of someone diving there and what it’s like. I’d like to find a dive map of the site …or at least a good description of that site

Many thanks in advance

Pat

I haven't ever dove there, but topographically speaking - not much there and pretty shallow. I have kayaked over it and watched the sand dollar beds go by a few feet down, caught a few flounder and a few dogfish nearby. Here's a shot of the bathymetry - Kopachuk park is the highlighted area on the point. As you can see, you'll have a hell of a swim to get out to anything resembling structure for the bottom. On top of that, the parking lot's a good hike down to the water.

My opinion, you're better off finding some divers who know the area well, and get them to take you to a better site (Fox Island West Wall, Day Island Wall, Sunrise Park, etc.).

That’s kinda what I thought. I wouldn’t even consider it except A: we’ll just happen to be there for another reason and B: the map actually says “underwater park” . I may just let it live in my imagination that there could be a Japanese mini sub laying there undiscovered. There’s also C: Anytime I’m near water my mind tends to run wild with the thought “I wonder what’s down there?”. Then there’s D: I don’t get up that way often so maybe I should try to do a dive. But I think the spot could be better. Anyway, it’s good to see people are still here that still dive…it’s been awhile since I looked. And I appreciate your response - that bathymetric viewer is super cool - I’ll have to figure out where I can get my hands on that for sure. I’ll try to post more here from my diving - which is, like me, sporadic and whenever the spirit (and land based activities) allow. Thank you - pat g

Hey, you can always snorkel over the beds of sand dollars... They're pretty cool ;-)

The data viewer is at https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/maps/bathymetry/ - zoom in on a spot, turn off the checkboxes except for the DEM and BAG Color Shaded Releif options...