Northwest Dive Club

Dive Site Name: Cove 2

Current Sensitive: No

Location/Address: 1660 Harbor Ave SW, Seattle, WA - West Seattle

Directions:
1. Take the I-90 W ramp to Seattle - go 6.7 mi
2. Take the I-5 S exit 2B to Tacoma/Portland - go 1.3 mi
3. Take the W Seattle Br exit 163A - go 0.5 mi
4. Continue on West Seattle Brg - go 1.9 mi
5. Take the Harbor Ave ramp - go 0.3 mi
6. Turn right at Harbor Ave SW - go 1.3 mi

Free Parking: Yes - Park on the shoulder or in the parking lot of the Alki Crab & Fish Co. (restaurant parking may be restricted during restaurant hours in summer/high season).

Staging Area: Good - some benches and grassy areas. Short walk to the water from the car.

Surface Swim: Short

Nearby Facilities: Public bathrooms, water fountains, food, fresh water rinsing station and shower.

Special Considerations: Weekends are very busy with classes.

Maximum Depth: I-Beams ~ 100fsw; Honey Bear ~ 40fsw; Cove 2 to 3 ~ 90fsw

Dive Site Description: The main attractions of this dive site are the “Honey Bear” wreck and the I-Beams. A typical route would be heading down from the tall skinny white buoy and following the ropes down toward the I-Beams (like those used in constructing large buildings), these are at about 90-100?. After perusing the beams, you can head back up the line and take a left at around 45fsw or so to find the Honey Bear wreck, a small sunken boat that sometimes houses an octopus or two. As an alternative, you can do a dive from Cove 2 to Cove 3 which is rather interesting, but you have to be careful not to get into the fishing zone, for fear of giving a local fisherman his catch of a lifetime.

Wednesday night club dives are typically held here. There aren’t that many divers around stirring things up and you’re likely to see a group of seals that zip along using your dive torch to find food. It’s quite fun and these seals even surface with you and bark at you begging you to come back and play. (via CalvinTang.com)

Here's an example of a juvenile octopus one might find at Cove 2:

Happened to notice the third set of pier logs is missing, parallel to the left hand line at the base of the set that goes off at a 90 degree to the line. Also the rock pile to the left of the base of the I beams is missing, usually a good spot to check at night. Row boat is essentially gone now, rotted away.
Very nice detail. I have seen several versions of site maps and this is the best so far.

Kirby wrote:Happened to notice the third set of pier logs is missing, parallel to the left hand line at the base of the set that goes off at a 90 degree to the line. Also the rock pile to the left of the base of the I beams is missing, usually a good spot to check at night. Row boat is essentially gone now, rotted away.
Very nice detail. I have seen several versions of site maps and this is the best so far.

Thank you kirby I dont rember where I got it from but I do try to kep a good map of the dive sites I dive if I can find one.

Sparky

It came from a mapping project done by a DM at the now-defunct Deep Fathoms ... the dive shop that used to be down the street from Cove 1.

I think it's on Janna's website (PNWScuba.com).

There are a few minor inaccuracies, but overall a very good job.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

if you go south from the vertical piling near the honey bear you find a nice piling in about 20 fsw of water that has a lot of northern featherduster worms on it which is really neet.

also a little more south towards cove 2 in around 40-50 fsw there's a huge dump truck tire.

I have never dove the cove can you guide me calvin

Maverick wrote:I have never dove the cove can you guide me calvin

No, but I can arrange for Erik to show you around

Funny shit Calvin.

Oh, yeah....that's one badass guide service, there!

A photoshow from tonight's dive ... max depth 111, bottom time 71 minutes.

First time I've ever seen a Dendronotis Iris nudibranch in Cove 2. Wonder what it's doing there ... hope it sticks around.

Enjoy the pics ... http://photoshow.comcast.net/watch/Bz8ig3wC

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

That Octo looked like it was about at the end. Nice show Bob, thanks.

What kind of Warbonnet was that (don't tell Janna I forgot! that's what ID books are for right?)? It was beautiful and it was very kind of him to pose for such a great picture.

great pics, gd! what i want to know is ... why didn't i get to see all of those cool things when i was doing my ow dives there? ;-) (that's a rhetorical question -- for anyone thinking of being a smartass!)

Sounder wrote:What kind of Warbonnet was that (don't tell Janna I forgot! that's what ID books are for right?)? It was beautiful and it was very kind of him to pose for such a great picture.

Decorated warbonnet ... actually I took pics of three different ones ... and saw a couple more that I wasn't able to get pics of ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I thought that's what it was, but I'm going to be cross-referencing to my ID book before sending in my REEF forms.

Yeah, me, too. We were only a couple hundred yards away, but that's no consolation. Thanks for putting it up, Bob!

last time i tryed to dive at alki, i got lost. can some one meet me somewhere and carpool there? i'm not a native to washington. i still have a hard time finding places in my own neighbor hood
later!

good day!
jeff

Jeff, there are driving directions here on my site. All you have to do is take I-5 South and take the West Seattle Bridge exit (right about at that pastel colored Tully's building on the right with the big T on it).

Hope that helps in case you don't figure out the carpool thing.

I drove by cove 2 & 3 yesterday to see where they are. Looks like the boat traffic can get pretty close, how critical is a diver down flag there? I noticed the signs that reccomended one.

One of these days I'd like to try out this site with someone familliar with it..

BTW, I love my wet suit but then I run a little on the warm side especially with all this extra insulation...

TCWestby wrote:I drove by cove 2 & 3 yesterday to see where they are. Looks like the boat traffic can get pretty close, how critical is a diver down flag there? I noticed the signs that reccomended one.

One of these days I'd like to try out this site with someone familliar with it..

BTW, I love my wet suit but then I run a little on the warm side especially with all this extra insulation...

I've never used a dive flag there. We've had a couple people on smaller boats get in too close and totally ignore the buoys but I think for the most part people respect that boundry and steer clear of those areas. You do need to keep an eye out for the kayakers though.

That slide show was awesome. I need to get a better light. I have seen almost all those things there and none of them looked that nice.

As far as the flag I never use one there. Seems like everyone knows that there are always divers there. Just make sure you stay clear of the water taxi area

There is now a sign posted on-site reminding divers that they are required to use a flag. I'm not pushing anyone. I'm just saying there's a sign.

-Ben

Great slide show!

Wow GD! Thanks for the show.