Edmonds Oil Dock

It's a bit of a swim out to the end of the dock during high tide, and quite the walk during low! Take your time and descend once you've made it to the end. The shallows fall off quickly as you approach the end of the pier. Note that you are very exposed to current. Plan your dive carefully, either with a guide or a local dive shop.

I don't think this site exists any more.

I dove this site after they took out the pier. This was my favorite site to dive. The amount of sea life that found its home on the pilings and the bottom always amazed me. The current and long surface swim made it that much more special because you couldn't dive it anytime and not a lot of people were willing to work that hard. The underwater scene now is like a clear cut forest. They've left a few of the creosote pilings sticking up about 2 feet with bags wrapped around them to keep the chemicals in I guess. The metal pilings were chopped off at the sand level and since they're hollow you can stick your light in and try to see the bottom but I couldn't. There is still some life on the north and south small rocky reefs. Plumose anemone starts and small fish are still around. I didn't see the usual cabezon. I don't think it's worth the swim now but if it's nostalgia you're looking for, dive it at least one more time.

The oil dock has been torn down because the pilings were coated in creosote.

I've dove this sight 5 times and it's a good dive. Anemones cover the pilings and there are tons of ratfish. There are lots of Dungeness Crabs, Starfish, Greenling, and the occasional Nudibranch. I've done 2 night dives at this location and on one of them I played with a baby octo. You have to watch your depth, as it can creep up on you fast if you head west of the dock. You can easily get down to 120'. The docks are going to be torn down in November, but I hear hopefully that they'll leave the pilings underwater.

Dove this site on 8/31/08. There were beginning and tech diving classes going on. Lots of people at the T Dock, so we opted for the oil dock. Our first dive here. We walked our way down because it was low tide. If you are averse to a long walk or swimming, avoid this spot. Because it was the end of crab season…lots of activity above and below the surface. Saw six divers on my first dive and three on the second. My buddy got hit by a falling crab pot 3/4 the way out on our second dive. On our second dive it was a little difficult getting back on the other side of piling. It was high tide and we got banged around a little bit. The surf kicked up a bit. Since this was both of our first dive at this site, we avoided going through the pilings except at the beach. Avoid this site if it's stormy…lots of stuff lying under the pilings from what I could see and I was warned about this from a few people we met. What was out here…lots of ratfish, nudibranches, crab (mostly females), gunnels, all kinds of sculpins, anemones, rock fish in holes in the pilings, and giant sun stars. Had a great time and we'll be back. I'm guessing if it's not crab season this would be a deserted area and a great place for diving.

I have just recently started snorkeling, and this was the first place I went. It blew my mind! There are tube worms all over the pilings, and in the spring there are huge cabezon sitting all over the pilings. Not to mention the huge schools of perch and all of the ratfish roaming the bottom. This is a great place to snorkel! WOW!

Well, first of all, I agree, Nydia W. did a great job in her narrative of this site. As for my ratings: We really don't have reefs here in the NW, but the pilings attract fish in a similar way. And we don't do much snorkeling, but this would be a great place to practice that. I said it was good for beginners because although it is a long swim to deeper water, a beginner could play in the shallow water and find lots to look at on the pilings. We don't have much surf, but with a SW wind there could be some uncomfortable chop on the surface here. If you find the U/W park at Edmonds too crowded this is a very close alternative that isn't usually too crowded. Fall and winter produces the best Vis. as does high tide. Air and local conditions information is available close by at the dive shop.

I agree with Nydia. Divers averse to swimming should avoid this spot. Do not surface past the end of the docks as a lot of boat traffic is out there. It is a marvelous site which I have dived many times.

This is a good site with a longer than average surface swim. Plan to dive this site on slack and make the proper corrections (not the same as the UW Park a few miles away). See the book NW Shore Dives for the proper corrections for this site. The pilings of the dock provide a nice habitat for a number of critters. I have seen more ratfish here than any other NW site. Good photo ops can be found here. On the northwest side of the dock the bottom drops off and the slope is fun to explore. Watch your depth. It's easy to find yourself unexpectedly deeper than you planned. Plan your return air so that you can swim on the bottom near the dock pilings on the way back to shore. The surface currents can be annoyingly hard to swim against. Not a good site on a windy day. Look for nudibranches, lots of crab, ratfish, gunnels, all kinds of sculpins, ruby octos, anemones, giant sun stars, and many other local favorites. Crab hunting is allowed on the south side of the dock. Keep your license with you and check the regs for season information.