Cove 1 - Alki (Seacrest)

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finnegankp
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Cove 1 - Alki (Seacrest)

Post by finnegankp »

Dive Site Name: Cove 1

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 1.2 mi

Free Parking: Yes - Parking on the shoulder or across the street along the fence line of the condo complex. DO NOT park in the Salty's at Alki parking lot- You will be ticketed or towed. If diving on the weekends, be sure to get their early to secure a spot close to the site.

Staging Area: Good - Large cement breaker wall to set up and don/doff gear . Short walk from car to wall, and short walk from wall to the water.

Surface Swim: Short

Nearby Facilities: Nothing located immediately on site but there are public bathrooms, water fountains, food, fresh water rinsing station and shower located down the boardwalk at Cove 2/Marination Ma Kai.

Special Considerations: Weekends are very busy with classes.

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

Dive Site Description: This is a great site for beginning divers or anyone looking for an easy and fun site. The main attractions of this dive site are the submerged aluminum dingy at ~35 fsw at the base of the wake buoy, the big tire at ~42 fsw, and the old pilings just out in front of Salty's. A typical route would be heading down from the white wake buoy and exploring the dingy, then heading on a heading of 40º until 55fsw, turn right and follow course to the toilet. From the toilet continue at depth for 100 feet and then turn 90º degrees (130º compass bearing) and follow this in to the pilings at 25-35 fsw. Swim in to 10 fsw to last piling, turn 90º degrees (310º bearing) to the pipeline. Follow the sand hill around for 100-200 feet, turn left (220º bearing) and swim into the shallows and exit. As an alternate route, go left from the dingy and follow until you hit the bike rack and metal plate where an octopus may be find at times. You can also continue at this depth for another 300 feet and find your way to the Honeybear and Cove 2 or turn around and return.

Weekends here are usually pretty busy with certification classes so parking can be hard to find if you get there late in the mornings and as a result the vis can be hit or miss above 35-40 feet due to new OW students stirring things up.

For those that like night dives, this is a great spot to dive at night. It's not uncommon to see a group of seals that zip along using your dive torch to find food. They've even been known to bump into you at times while going for the fish. It’s quite fun and the seals even surface with you and bark at you begging you to come back and play or at least bring back the light so they can eat more!

Here's a map for those that are interested:
2013-08-09_09-49-23_465.jpg
Last edited by finnegankp on Thu Jan 02, 2014 9:21 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Jeremy
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Re: Cove 1 - Alkai (Seacrest)

Post by Jeremy »

Is the cove 2 to cove 3 line now at only 90 fsw? It used to be more around 120.

I heard there was a monument at cove 1 at 100 fsw, but I doubt it exists.
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mz53480
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Re: Cove 1 - Alkai (Seacrest)

Post by mz53480 »

Jeremy wrote:
I heard there was a monument at cove 1 at 100 fsw, but I doubt it exists.
The 'monolith'???
...I like going to the chamber.. They have great food there, and awsome live music "H20doctor"
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Jeremy
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Re: Cove 1 - Alkai (Seacrest)

Post by Jeremy »

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kdupreez
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Re: Cove 1 - Alkai (Seacrest)

Post by kdupreez »

it's an old structure DIT used to practice their welding and other commercial skills on. it's at about 95-100.. supposedly :)
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