Northwest Dive Club

Not sure if this is the correct sub forum to ask. Planning on heading to Hoodsport for a 2 tank day trip. Considering doing Octupus Hole. I dove it a few weeks back and didn't see either wolf eels or octos (and I have a really good spotter). Seems that the wall is pretty smooth with few crannies for the critters to hide in. And the base didn't appear to have many rocks for hiding places either.

I think that for wolf eels, the best place to look is along the top/breakdown zone? It was our first time there, there were no other divers, and viz was pretty good but not so great that we felt like exploring downslope without having an idea if there was anything to find.

So where are the best spots to look and did we miss any particularly good habitat areas?

Very often visibility in the Hood Canal is crap above 30-40 fsw. It often opens up quite nicely below that. The rare days when it is crystal clear in the top 30' are wonderful - because so much life is in that top 30-40'.

So... Octopus Hole.

Great dive. But if I remember correctly the wall starts at around 20 fsw, and bottoms out at 50 fsw or so. There are rocks and nooks above the topping off point of the structure (20 fsw or so), but the wheelhouse of the dive is 20 to 50 fsw. That means that on days when viz is 5' or less above 40' the dive is going to be a bit iffy.

Still worth it, IMO, but just need to be aware. Other sites I can go deeper and have a good (I can actually SEE) dive, but here I haven't found much below 50'. (Of course that could just be me.)

Critters are hit and miss according to the vagaries of nature and how they happen to feel at the time.

North wall of Sund has over 10 wolf eels denning there now, so I'd hit there if the critter is what I'm after. They are opportunistic denners I think - where the den is there they will be, so on the structure.

Still a great dive and worth doing, just be aware of past thefts from vehicles along the road. It's always a bit of a dice roll.

Sund rock is littered with wolf eels, your odds are better there. We did see a couple of wolf eels at octo hole at the south end of the wall on the sea floor below the wall about 25 yards away.


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Thanks guys! My son and I did Sund and Octopus Hole the weekend of Aug 17-18. Viz was pretty good -- we managed all our dives on flood. Saw 5 wolf eels at Sund north wall and three (one juvie) on south wall. Octopus hole was kind of a bust. We were in the 35-50 fsw range on the wall and saw pretty much nothing but fish.

I'm bringing up a neighbor on the 21st for a day trip and I was leaning toward Sund for two dives and your comments cement this plan. He used to dive out east in the Chesapeake Bay and quarries so he's familiar with chilly water.

Thanks again, I appreciate the help!