Seahurst Park

[Stu]

Trying to knock out all the dives in Fishnaller's book we decided to dive the park. I have to say that I wasn't too excited about the dive, based on the write up, but I do like TTN so we decided to give it shot. Our goal was to find 'the barge' and to locate how far out you have to go out from shore to really get some depth. Turns out it’s a good ways from shore. We got out there at low tide on Sunday, no other divers but plenty of dog walkers and picnickers. To find the barge, line up the posts on the donut structure, surface swim until your in about 15’ or so of water (which is a long ways), drop down, and continue on course and you’ll hit the barge at about 30’ feet at low tide. It just looks like a big mound of silt with some metal objects sticking 1-3’ out of the silt. Some wood and tires surround the sight. A good variety of invertebrates, stubby squid, tons of various nudibranch out in the surrounding grass and sand flat. Continued down the slope to around 60’ feet didn’t see much else. There have been reports of a 6 gill there but we had no luck. I did find an early ‘70s beer bottle and someone’s old rusted 12” Wenoka brand dive knife. Vis was good 15’-20’, water was also less green than usual, gotta love the winter.

[OreCoastDiver]

Back in the day this was a nice dive. When the barge was still around you had lots of life: octos, wolf eels, clouds of rockfish and the barge was covered in invertebrates. But the last time I dove it was 28 years ago, so what do I know. Maybe they should do at Seahurst what they did at Saltwater. The two barges there were a nice dive three decades ago too.

[Stu]

Yeah there wasn't much left of that thing.

[gcbryan]

Interesting write-up. I haven't been there either for the reasons you mentioned. You have much more patience than I if you can do all the dives in the North West Shore Dives book. There are more so so dives listed than great dives. I thought about trying to do them all but I realized after doing a few of the so so dives that cherry picking the good ones was more fulfilling to me!

Half the book it seems is San Juan shore dives. As far as I can tell Lime Kiln is the only great San Juan shore dive (as opposed to the many great San Juan boat dives). All the rest of the SJ shore dives seem about the same...shallow with urchins.

Be sure to post all of your dive reports! I'd like to see reports on some of the sites I"m assuming are so so.

The historical info was interesting also. I guess maybe many more site were interesting 20 years ago!

[CaptnJack]

Be sure to post all of your dive reports! I'd like to see reports on some of the sites I"m assuming are so so.

The historical info was interesting also. I guess maybe many more site were interesting 20 years ago!

20 years ago I might have been more willing to do some of his swims!!!

Tolmie and Freshwater Bay are best appreciated by Michael Phelps, the rest of us would be better off on the beach stoned

[gcbryan]

Be sure to post all of your dive reports! I'd like to see reports on some of the sites I"m assuming are so so.

The historical info was interesting also. I guess maybe many more site were interesting 20 years ago!

20 years ago I might have been more willing to do some of his swims!!!

Tolmie and Freshwater Bay are best appreciated by Michael Phelps, the rest of us would be better off on the beach stoned

I hear you! There's also quite a few sites that just sound boring from the descriptions in the book such as Kayak Point and Richmond Beach. I've done most of the San Juan Island shore dives and they all seem the same except for Lime Kiln.

I would like to find a new (to me) shore dive somewhere however!

[CaptnJack]

Seahurst is getting a big makeover with major seawall removal.
http://www.burienwa.gov/index.aspx?NID= ... -257187145