Wacoma Dock

It stays shallow for a bit, then drops off rapidly. This site is known for its non-technical night diving. A small cove protects you from the current, and is out of the main boating lane.

I would not recommend this dive spot to anyone unless they're planning on going out on the entry spot past the Hatfield Marine Science Center. Entered near research science boats, easy entry, but stays shallow forever! You could practically walk out to 20 feet until the boats; we walked out all the way to the jutting piers! Never got deeper than 21 feet, nothing on the bottom to see. Current was also drawing out too fast so we exited quickly.

We tried to find this site, but NOAA has moved in and developed this area.

Entry and parking is really easy. We just dropped to the bottom and headed toward the building and piling. Viz was probably about 6ft or so, and the water temp was 55. Under the building at high tide the depth was about 23ft. It's a pretty easy dive but you gotta watch out for the current. We ended up getting swept around the corner. It was also really windy so the surface was pretty choppy

We dove this site a few times in a weekend. It was both my buddies and my first dive without a professional instructor/dive master with us. The vis was about 6ft and we saw a number of crab and other types of life. Once you get out a ways the current picks up when exchange is about to happen. Overall a good dive, one which we will return to.

Dove the Wacoma dock to try out new gear. This is just a nice, easy dive. Gently sloping mud bottom with lots of shells, some starfish, a dozen clam necks sticking out of mud holes, a few anemones and one smaller ling cod. Water temp 45F, and the deepest point inside docks was 21' on a tide level of around 3 or 4 feet. The fill station has moved to the little store by the south beach boat launch ramp. You drive right by it on the way to the Wacoma dock dive spot. Haven't filled there yet but I will soon.

This is an addendum to my last review. The dive shop is gone. When we asked at the marina bait shop they said the guy who owned it is building condos on that site. The bait shop will be adding some limited dive shop type services soon.

This site was our first of the day, and probably the best. The vis sucked…. Had to get so close to the bottom to see anything that we kept bouncing off it, thus causing the vis to get worse. We also had a pretty strong current. Unfortunately, this may have been poor planning on our part as there was a huge swing in the tide (8.5 ft) so that caused most of our current problems. I would probably try this dive again when the tidal shift is smaller.

We went in an attempt to get crab, but the vis was too bad to see anything. We had to get within 1 ft of the bottom before we could see it. The dive was easy and near a very knowledgeable dive shop. We would be willing to try again in better vis.

My brother and I dove here on the 21st of September just after high tide. The tide actually helped us in our pursuit of crab. If you swim in the North/South direction, any silt you kick up will get swept away by the tide going out to sea. We stayed next to the pier poles as most of the crab did. We saw lots of giant clam shells, perch, red rock and Dungeness crab, and another fish I have not yet been able to identify. We really enjoyed this dive. Vis was 8-10 feet.

Diving under the docks is an interesting dive with plenty of legal sized Dungeness crab. Pile perch, anemones, whelks, hermit crabs, and nudibranches. Poor visibility when the wind is up. Bring a flashlight and a goodie bag if you are hunting or interested in picking up a little bit of garbage.

If there is no current, this is a nice spot for beginners to get used to their gear and doing surface swims and such. If there is a current, it can be some work and experience would help. I dove here as part of my open water training and then later on just for kicks. Lots of grasses, clams, crabs, baby flounder, junk and such. There's actually quite a bit to look at here. My favorite thing, once I started noticing them, was all the green pipefish (seahorse relative) which were to be found mixed in with the grasses under the dock.