Maury Island Barges
Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2006 7:31 am
I dive Maury Island Barges as often as I can. Many divers hear that the "barges" is on the schedule for a boat dive and groan, "...not again...boring...". Well, I love diving the Barges!
The area actually has 3 attractions. First, there is the 3 barges that sunk. It is hard to tell anymore that they were ships. It looks more like a huge amount of debris. There is so much living on them that everywhere you turn, there is more stuff. At low tide, the sunk barges are at a max depth of 65-70 feet so they can be easily explored by a new diver, however, watch your buoyancy! Also, bring a light to look down and around the wreck
The second attraction is the sunken pleasure craft. It sits in 60 feet of water. I have seen an octo or two under its hull. Yesterday, all that were in the holes were crab. It is fun to explore as well.
The most fun for me is the rock pile. It is in 85 feet of water and it is directly underneath the end of the gravel elevator. There are huge bolders and they are covered with all kinds of life.
The best part of this dive is the safety stop. There are huge pilings, where the boats normally tie up to. The pilings are covered with sea aneonomies and all kinds of small fish and crab. I have seen gunnels at the bases and lingcod cruising around looking for a quick bit to eat.
Yesterday, I was diving there and it had been a while since I had just dove the sunken barges. It was amazing. The barges have really fallen apart in the last 6 years I have been diving there. However, there was so much life and the crab are some of the largest I have seen this year. I got pinched pretty good too. (Sidebar...I have to play with crab. I always want to pet them. They typically don't like it. A large Dungeoness showed disapproval yesterday by pinching my left forfinger pretty good. It hurt too...even through my heavy dry gloves!) Anyway, we had a great 1 hour dive.
If you dive the Barges, remember to watch your buoyancy and bring your camera because there is always something cool to see.
The area actually has 3 attractions. First, there is the 3 barges that sunk. It is hard to tell anymore that they were ships. It looks more like a huge amount of debris. There is so much living on them that everywhere you turn, there is more stuff. At low tide, the sunk barges are at a max depth of 65-70 feet so they can be easily explored by a new diver, however, watch your buoyancy! Also, bring a light to look down and around the wreck
The second attraction is the sunken pleasure craft. It sits in 60 feet of water. I have seen an octo or two under its hull. Yesterday, all that were in the holes were crab. It is fun to explore as well.
The most fun for me is the rock pile. It is in 85 feet of water and it is directly underneath the end of the gravel elevator. There are huge bolders and they are covered with all kinds of life.
The best part of this dive is the safety stop. There are huge pilings, where the boats normally tie up to. The pilings are covered with sea aneonomies and all kinds of small fish and crab. I have seen gunnels at the bases and lingcod cruising around looking for a quick bit to eat.
Yesterday, I was diving there and it had been a while since I had just dove the sunken barges. It was amazing. The barges have really fallen apart in the last 6 years I have been diving there. However, there was so much life and the crab are some of the largest I have seen this year. I got pinched pretty good too. (Sidebar...I have to play with crab. I always want to pet them. They typically don't like it. A large Dungeoness showed disapproval yesterday by pinching my left forfinger pretty good. It hurt too...even through my heavy dry gloves!) Anyway, we had a great 1 hour dive.
If you dive the Barges, remember to watch your buoyancy and bring your camera because there is always something cool to see.