Darren Bolding's Dive Log

I have dived this site a few times now, day and night. This is not a site to look for "big" things. It's a spot to go slow, keep your eyes open and spot interesting things. There is a line that parallels shore in about 60-65 ft of water. Surface swim out to the buoys for this line (we saw an octo playing in the eelgrass one day) and drop down a buoy. Follow the line, and you'll see man-made "reefs" along the line. We have found large numbers of nudi's, ratfish, and sole/other flatfish as well as the occasional stumpy squid, ronquil and other critters. It's a nice, easy place under water, with a line to follow. Watch for silt stir up- it's easy to do here. The bad part, and why this is not the best place for an inexperienced buddy team (without a more experienced person along) is the currents, and the possible surface conditions. Currents here are wonky. The current here always floods (heads SSW) except for the second half of the ebb, when it reverses. That means that slack is usually about an hour before max ebb. Not what you might expect. The good news is that the current parallels shore and you can swim perpendicular to it to get back in. The bad news is that you might end up somewhere you don't expect. Final note: On one dive in 12/06, a storm blew in while we were on the dive. We surfaced to hail and *Large* waves. Luckily tide was low enough that the waves were not throwing us into the seawall. Even so, this was the most difficult exit either of us have experienced, and I did end up having to assist my dive buddy more than a little bit. This was crawl/drag yourself up the beach and get maytagged by the surf. If it had gotten any worse (or if I had realized she had a free-flow from the sand in her reg) I would have been ditching gear. Lesson learned? WATCH THE TOPSIDE WEATHER. Here and everywhere you dive.