Review #10
Scott Van Hoosen (octopus at vanhoosen dot net) |
October 22, 2002 |
| Location: Tacoma, WA USA |
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Dive Type: Salt Water |
Facilities: Parking |
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| Hazards: Depth, current, boats |
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Entry: boat or shore |
Surface Swim: short |
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Difficulty: advanced |
Typical depth: 60 |
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Dive site rating: 5 |
Max depth: 130+ |
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Dive site description:
Shell and I drove up to Tacoma and met Mark and Dan Wible and his friend Brad at War Memorial Park under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Dan created a company that makes rebreathers, so if you want one, check out www.rebreather.com. Anyway, the five of us hauled our gear down a long, steep trail (imagine about four or five Jorsted Creek hikes), geared up under the bridge, and plopped in the water. It was at this point the I realized I'd forgotten to bring my fins. Argh! It was time to descend, so the four of them headed out to explore, while I decided to do a little "bottom-walking." It was a really interesting experience. The tide was pretty close to slack. I drained out my BC and drysuit so I was several pounds negative, then started just walking/hopping outward. Going down was really easy, just basically stepping off a bunch of little cliffs. I quickly got to around 60', where I found the nearest huge stanchion. I'd say it was about 40' across, a huge square structure, I'm not sure how tall. The bottom was littered with lots of concrete debris, and the whole area was full of life. I didn't see any octopi or wolf eels, but I did see one or two medium sized lingcod and lots of smaller life. I only spent a few minutes walking around, because I was worried that I'd have difficulty walking if I lost some of my negative bouyancy. I slowly started walking back up the slope, which was a bit more difficult. It was hard to get traction uphill when I only weighed about three or four pounds. I did NOT want to get positively bouyant and have to suface without fins. Swimming was very slow, but doing a frog-kick with my arms and legs was somewhat functional, so I much prefered to walk/hop. Anyway, it took me only about five minutes to get to the shallows, where I continued to "walk" with the now slow-moving tide. I walked in the shallows for about 100 yards or so, looking at the starfish and other small life, then climbed the rocks and exited. Diving without fins isn't the best way to dive, but I'm telling you it was fun! I really enjoyed the unique experience of walking.
I found out later that the other four divers had a great time along the reef and debris, and found one large wolf eel. Dan and Brad both seemed like really cool guys, and Dan knew this site well. I wish I could have dived with them, and checked out their rebreathers in action. |
Directions:
From shore: Park at War Memorial Park under the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, climb down steep hillside to railroad tracks. Walk along tracks to just under the bridge, climb down rocks to water. Only dive this at slack! Enter just before slack, flow with current, when it changes, let it carry you back, then get out of the water! |
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