Northwest Dive Club

Sonar Image of site including Omar, the Rock, Barge and Vertical Barge:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/100424548@ ... 5208337810

Shilshole Wrecks by ohopdiver, on Flickr

With recent interest and discussion of this site I decided to see if I could post this image properly.

A bit of history and background: The two barges sank together in 1976. The larger one appears to be a former WWII LSM or LSMR converted after the war to bulk carrier. They were used to haul gravel from Steilacoom to Kenmore. One barge would be tide to the Shilshole buoy while the other was taken through the locks to Kenmore. This was repeated on the return trip. The same company, Pioneer Towing, lost similar barges off 4 Mile Rock in 1973 and another in south sound in 1982.

Thanks for posting this! We recently tried to dive this site, specifically the Omar, and ended up finding nothing but the big rock. The sonar picture gives me an idea of where we were and what we were doing.

LCF wrote:Thanks for posting this! We recently tried to dive this site, specifically the Omar, and ended up finding nothing but the big rock. The sonar picture gives me an idea of where we were and what we were doing.

I can email you the exact numbers for the Omar if you need them. You can easily swim between the Omar and the big rock if you have reasonable vis and a compass to get the basic direction right.

We were diving off a charter boat and got dropped off the wreck -- the captain had given us a rough heading for where he thought the wreck was from the anchor, but we tried it and failed to find it. We surfaced, and he dropped us again; we found the rock, and stayed there, because at least it was something to look at . Viz was about ten feet, so we weren't going to see much unless we swam into it.

LCF wrote:We were diving off a charter boat and got dropped off the wreck -- the captain had given us a rough heading for where he thought the wreck was from the anchor, but we tried it and failed to find it. We surfaced, and he dropped us again; we found the rock, and stayed there, because at least it was something to look at . Viz was about ten feet, so we weren't going to see much unless we swam into it.

Sorry to hear that. I can take you back sometime if you want to see them. Pick you up at Shilshole even.

I haven't been there since we moved to Kitsap almost 5 yrs ago so its about time I go back.

I did the Omar once, several years ago, off Scott Christopher's boat. We did one of the barges and swam the line to the Omar. I thought the tug was a much more interesting dive than the barges, but we didn't get to spend much time there because we had already spent so much swimming over. I'd love to go do it again.