Fox Island Bridge tomorrow

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olalladiver
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Fox Island Bridge tomorrow

Post by olalladiver »

All,

A friend and I are planning a splash at the Fox Island Bridge tomorrow (3/20/21 - Sat ~715ish am). I know it can be an A$$kicker for current if timed wrong so appreciate wisdom from those who have gone before me at the site.

Sites (presumably models) disagree a little on slack time, but seems between 7:15 to a bit before 8 am, which agrees to first order with Fischnaller roughly for the Tacoma Narrow Station. It's about a 2 footish exchange around...so not huge, but not the smallest either. We're planning to be in the water right about 7 and ready to be hitting the pilings by 715 or so we think, depending on water feel. I'm inclined to think the Hale Passage West NOAA predictions should be close, maybe closer the Fischnaller, yes?

Does anyone have any advice is this is a dive they would try as a veteran of the site? We'll be ready for an in-water abort, but also don't want to waste a morning and all that pesky gear rinsing if we're destined to fail. We're both site virgins, so no experience here.

Appreciate the group think in advance...

OlallaDiver / J
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YellowEye
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Re: Fox Island Bridge tomorrow

Post by YellowEye »

Hi
I've only done the site once so don't have a lot of say on it. I will say that the really current sensitive sites generally don't line up like clockwork anyway, so I think your strategy of wait and see is a good start! Reconsider and do a milder day if you're super worried about it.

Recently the xtide and noaa predictions for deception pass have been about an hour apart from each other. Talk about uncertainty of splash time! Sometimes we just go down feel things out and either surface immediately, or just "hide" behind a boulder and hold on and wait it out.

Are you experience in current? I don't anticipate a lot of up-well or down-well at the site so the worst that would likely happen is a drift beyond your intention which could be worrying, but not deadly. Don't let getting blown off the site consume you, it'll be ok. I remember the first time I was in heavy current I was overconsumed about making it exactly back to the entry in a hurry, as opposed to just making it to the surface. Who knows, maybe if you surface away from your entry you can tuck into a backeddy and get a ride back or simply walk back to where you came from in 3 feet of water. Some people bring a small garden shovel to dig themself a stake in the sand if at a site with not much to hold on to. In general drag will be less if you're along the bottom rather than up in the water column so staying super low is usually a good strategy. Go slow, focus on progress back to shore perpendicular to the current, rather than the entry. Grab onto things, drift if you have to.... try not to work up your heart rate as that can be nerve wracking. Even in the biggest deception pass current my aim is to work up zero exhaustion by just going real slow. Also note that sometimes current can be gusty. Just when it seems very strong maybe a minute later it will die down. Bring a big tank for good measure.

Make a note of when the actual slack was and let us know!

Enjoy!
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YellowEye
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Re: Fox Island Bridge tomorrow

Post by YellowEye »

Hi
I believe Jesse has done Fox Island and perhaps he has more to add. I'm going to try tagging him here by quoting him so maybe he sees this. Not sure this will work :)
Scubie Doo wrote: Fri Mar 19, 2021 4:41 pmI'm Jesse Miller and I have entertaining tales about fox island bridge
Happy Friday!
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Scubie Doo
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Re: Fox Island Bridge tomorrow

Post by Scubie Doo »

It has been a while since I dove it. Penders had the times nailed.

I know it is a big correction, but a stunning dive of timed correctly. Let me hit up Penders and see what I can find.


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thorn124
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Re: Fox Island Bridge tomorrow

Post by thorn124 »

Following to see what you found out. My navionics show flood at 6:58 am at 0.7 knots with slack at 8:11am. I'm looking into zees reef or sunrise for Sunday

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Scubie Doo
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Re: Fox Island Bridge tomorrow

Post by Scubie Doo »

As I mentioned it has been a while. However, the data we uncovered was walking into the water about 2.75 hours (dropping in about 2.5 hours) slack before ebb using the north narrows current station. Surface swim to the edge of the rocks and drop in there, then swim pillar to pillar. If you drop in and current is kicking, you can poke around the rocks and wait for it to lighten up.


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Scubie Doo
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Fox Island Bridge tomorrow

Post by Scubie Doo »

Looks like slack before ebb is about 10:18am so water by 7:15ish and drop around 7:30am. You may be a little early with your plan, but as I mentioned you can wait a bit at the rocks. Sorry for the late response here.


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olalladiver
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Re: Fox Island Bridge tomorrow

Post by olalladiver »

Thanks for the replies all, really appreciate it.

Good dive. We splashed about 7:15. Had a light west current throughout the dive, definitely stronger (not surprisingly) near midspan... I'd say minimum may have been maybe 7:45 or a little later, so actually was pretty happy with the way it played.... but hard to put my finger on exact minimum as obviously we were in different channel conditions. Were I to play it again, I'd agree with Scoobie Doo's assessment that were were maybe just a little early, but probably would shoot for the same thing as it gave us some slop time in case we had a minor gear issue that delayed us. Especailly since exchange current was lighter on the flood verses the ebb...

Neat site... First time for both of us, but right in my back yard, so it's cool to have a close one. Nothing exotic and was hoping for more nudis that I'd heard can be on this site, but had a nice time.

Dive safe, be well...

OlallaDiver / J
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RoxnDox
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Re: Fox Island Bridge tomorrow

Post by RoxnDox »

Glad you had a good dive. My only experience there was more like shooting the rapids between the pillars in my kayak...
<Penopolypants> "I, for one, would welcome our new cowboy octopus overlords."
<LCF> "There is ALWAYS another day to dive, as long as you get home today."
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