Northwest Dive Club

Grab a tide chart. (Plenty on the web - NOAA is a great source) find the peak or valley for the high and low tide. Plan 20 minutes or so prior to the apex for your splash time. The flatter the curve, the less current you will have.

With the high currents there, if noone is familiar with the site, current directions, etc, I recommend scheduling the dive for low tide. That's what we did, so we would be in shallower water and have a shorter swim to dry land when the flow current started, since none of us knew the site. That also let us put in before slack current and easily be able to get in the shelter of the first set of pilings and enjoy them with little effort while waiting for the current to stop. I'm sure you remember how fast the current picked up after slack, and how much protection from it the closer set of pilings afforded on the way back in, too.

Make sure those planning the dive look at both the tide charts and current charts and times. There is usually a healthy lag between low tide and slack current at that site. A few minutes studying the relationship between the two, and where the buoys are located for Tacoma Narrows and and farther south, gave a pretty good picture of what what to expect at Titlow. I think there were 3 NOAA buoys near there, because of the various islands and channels in that area.

We started the dive a little before projected low tide time and about 15 - 20 minutes before slack current. That, plus the length of actual slack time (check the current charts) will be most of the effective dive time. Unless it is a very low exchange, once the current turns there it gets right with the program. :-) Anyone who is familiar with planning Day Island drift dives will be a good resource for interpreting the charts in that area, too, since it is right next to Titlow.