Northwest Dive Club

Does anyone have any advice for good lake Washington dive sites? Not looking to go much deeper than 100'. Just got my first (running) boat, and looking to get used to the boat on the lake before taking it out to sound. Any suggestions are welcome, also any interested in joining, preferably with a boat, is more than welcome.

http://www.gue-seattle.org/maps

OK that answers that... lol.

Any recommendations?

I dove to the Corsair off Madison Park last week. It's at 80 feet. Highly recommend this spot. Saltwater State Park is a excellent boat dive when you decide to venture out to the sound.

http://www.dcsfilms.com/Site_4/Corsair_ ... ngton.html

Corsair is a fun dive, but its slap bang in the busy 520 channel traffic.

Down South there is the PBM Mariner thats around 70ft.. there is also the Landing Craft very close to it in about 65ft.

You can launch at Mercer Island be hit both those recreational dives in very short order.. they are also somewhat out of the way of any busy boat traffic.

I recommend the I90 bridge, PBM mariner, or the Louie off Houghton Beach (Kirkland). All are fairly durable. I recommend going with someone who has some lake experience first so you don't trash the wrecks with poor anchoring techniques. We don't ever anchor ON the actual wreck. Drop a small weighted shot line (5lbs of soft lead works well with a buoy) near the wreck then use a spool to find it. The boat should be live or depending on the site anchored nearby.

The Valiant, off O.O. Denny Park, is a fun, albeit brief dive. The plane is located in about 110 feet of water, but it's only about 25 or so feet long.

LCF wrote:The Valiant, off O.O. Denny Park, is a fun, albeit brief dive. The plane is located in about 110 feet of water, but it's only about 25 or so feet long.

Its also a plywood plane that, now decades later, is the consistency of a wet cardboard box and not suitable for new to the lake divers.

Can someone provide some exact beta on diving the Madison Corsair from shore please? Ive got some ok info but nothing exact.

Thanks

Pretty much go straight out near the condo's on the right to about 70ft, hang a hard right and you will hit the debris field as I recall.

There is also the i90 sunken bridge sections that are a fun LW dive as well. Not deep at all I think around 40ft.

Thanks. Maybe we will do i90 after.

Another LW dive is Leschi Wall, but keep in mind it extends beyond rec limits.

There are a bunch of LW dives near carillon point marina and that area, but I've never dove them or know if scooter or fin kick dives.

Can confirm that Lake Washington dive is a lot of fun. Depth ranges from 40-80 feet. I didn't know about the corsair being shore accesible and will be diving it ASAP

40 to 80?

there are great dives to 200 feet.

Reviving an old thread...

What about good Lake Washington shore dives in recreational depths? I've done the corsair and I-90 bridge but would be interested in others.

After a little searching on NWDC, it sounds like some options might be:

PBM mariner - looks to be too far from shore
the Louie - looks close to shore but couldn't find any good info or directions. Anyone have directions for diving this from shore?
the Valiant - sounds like this is a scooter-only dive?
Leschi wall - haven't done this one yet, but sounds interesting
the Harpoon - another scooter-only dive?

Anything I'm missing?

King St Scow

Boat or shore, most within rec limits. https://pugetsounding.smugmug.com/Lake-Washington

This weekend, I saw a couple divers carrying their gear down to the lake just south of Madrona Beach.

https://www.google.com/maps/@47.6070234 ... a=!3m1!1e3

What dive site would that be? They seemed like they had regular tanks so is there something worth seeing at recreational depths?

The Leschi Wall is located at Madrona

Leschi Wall is probably my favorite Lake Wa. dive site. Bottom is around 180ft. Probably the best parts of the wall are in the 90-130ft range.

Denny Blaine Park has a nice wall from 45 to 85 feet. North and south from there has deeper walls and ledges.
https://pugetsounding.smugmug.com/Lake-Washington

I've been meaning to ask. What are the conditions to watch out for when planning a Lake Washington dive? Tides, currents, wind?

nothing except boat traffic. I kinda hate boat diving lake during boating season, cuz its all torn up. Winter time is suweet and smooth.

You do have to watch wind. With a longer fetch, can get easily kicked up.

derekcs wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2020 1:34 pm I've been meaning to ask. What are the conditions to watch out for when planning a Lake Washington dive? Tides, currents, wind?

You have to watch out for muck and boredom. It's a no crab zone down there.

YellowEye wrote: ↑Wed Sep 30, 2020 7:59 am

derekcs wrote: ↑Sat Sep 26, 2020 1:34 pm I've been meaning to ask. What are the conditions to watch out for when planning a Lake Washington dive? Tides, currents, wind?

You have to watch out for muck and boredom. It's a no crab zone down there.

I saw a crawdad during my one I-90 bridge dive.