Dewatto Wall (aka Cloud Nine) and The Knuckle

[nwscubamom]

Thanks to some intrepid divers/REEF surveyors (Tom Nicodemus, Todd Cliff, Dave Rintoul, Greg and Pam Jensen), and Don Coleman (Pacific Adventure Charters) for an amazing day Monday on Hood Canal. We traveled way out of the usual range down to south Hood Canal, sort of across from Hoodsport to resurvey a wall we've done two previous years.

It was a two hour trip, and we tried our best to amuse ourselves on the way down. Greg performs drysuit tricks:


Upon arrival and a briefing, we set out to find the wall, and since we were diving on a high tide, it was about 10 feet deeper than the last time we dove it. Only I had forgotten this minor detail, and we hunted for the wall longer than we should have had to. By the time Tom and I got down to 119 feet, and located it - I had the biggest narcosis episode I've ever experienced. Just icky, buzzy, creepy. I had to really do a bunch of self-talk to even stay down long enough to snap a few pics of some Cloud Sponge, a Spotfin Sculpin and a Stubby Squid and eggs that Tom had found. (notice the invasive Ciona savignyi back in the crack too)



Poor Tom - he was a trooper about it, after I gave him the I'm-loopy-narced sign, stuck right with me, and up we went to shallower depths. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see at the shallower depths - with all the cool stuff being back down on the wall. :( Unless you like blobby things and squat lobsters. The invasive tunicate, Ciona savignyi, has gone crazy-go-nuts at this location.



I've dove this site twice before, been deeper than 119 feet many times, but NEVER have I had a narcosis episode like this baby. (Usually I just get a bit more anxious about checking pressures, and don't remember a lot about what I saw down there once I surfaced - wait...that's normal)

Since conditions were excellent (both current and weather) Don suggested we dive the Knuckle on the way back home. After hearing the description and depths, Tom looked at me (considering what we had just gone through) and said, we're gonna do TWO deep dives in one day?? I smiled and nodded!! YES! Because The Knuckle is amazingly cool, and I've been wanting to get back there since I last dove it years ago. And it's not AS deep as Dewatto Wall. (At this point he's thinking - she's TOTALLY nuts!)

We dined on Clam Chowder (no thanks to the Sunday divers who ate up ALL THE TORTILLA SOUP - SHAME ON YOU!!) and breadsticks, along with hot shredded BBQ chicken sandwiches (wow, those were AWESOME!). Don sure feeds his divers well.

Don briefed us, and off we went. Thanks to a healthy dose of geezer gas we had offgassed nicely from the first dive, and had a good mix for the 2nd dive. First thing we came across were Cloud Sponge. Lots of them - beautiful colonies, with critters inside.



Fields of zoanthids with a ginormous Ling Cod (she looked pregnant to me) perched on the edge of a rock:


Schools of rockfish all around, Yellowtails, Blacks, Browns, Coppers, Quills, Puget Sound - Tom saw a Vermilion also...and wolfies here and there and everywhere:


As we were photographing a Heart Crab that Tom found (he was on a roll that day as far as critter spotting!), he suddenly motioned to me to look up the rock about 3 feet. There, out in the open was a GORGEOUS Giant Pacific Octopus. Oh wow. WOW WOW WOW! We started snapping and filming like crazy!





At this point I'm sitting at about 750psi, so Tom hands me his long hose and off we go, heading up to shallower waters to do our safety stop. That long hose was GREAT! (his reg breathes awesome, too) Once in the shallows I switch back to my primary and we hang out there for awhile, putzing around the plumose:


One of those dives where you were happy dancing and high-fiving underwater, and whooping into your reg. Upon breaking the surface, constant grins, laughing and chortling, etc. Don knew something was up!

Plugged in my SD card from my camera into his computer and pulled up the images on his flatscreen monitor on board to view on the way back to the marina. WOO HOO!

Thank you Don and the REEF team (especially Tom) for a safe, fun and glorious day of diving!


- Janna

[Bric Martin]

Nice report! A day with Don is always great. How was the viz at Flag Pole?

[boydski]

Hi Janna,

Awesome photos and a great dive report!

Now I'm going to have to go find Dewatto Wall. Those Cloud Sponges look stunning.

[Tom Nic]

Viz at the Knuckle was 35' plus - gorgeous! Flagpole was less, but still around 20. Cloud 9 was 25 or so and DARK once you got past the surface muck.

What a delightful day of diving! A few pics from Cloud 9 are here , and from The Knuckle are here . Janna was great to dive with as always, and I actually now have a pic or two of myself underwater to prove to skeptical friends that it's me taking the pics. Janna's camera rig and her pictures are WONDERFUL... although I think her bout with narcosis may have impaired her picture taking a bit at Cloud 9. Even narced out of her mind in a bad way she got all excited about the stubby squid eggs and then the stubby and I was trying to figure out why she was "emoting" so much about them! I don't think I've ever seen a stubby actually with it's eggs before...



The few Cloud Sponges we got to see in our short time at depth were pretty cool, and I've never seen so much Ciona in one place - "guarded" by literally hundreds of Squat Lobster. Kind of surreal even if you aren't narced.





The Knuckle was such a cool dive site... right up there with my favorite Hood Canal Site. Viz was fantastic, and critters were everywhere. You'd be ooing and ahing over a beautiful Cloud Sponge and a few feet away there's be a plate sized Nudi, you go there, then a large Wolfie, then a monster Ling, then a Golf Ball Crab, and of course the "piece-de-resistance" a big ol' GPO out in the open doing his imitation of a rock. I don't think I've "happy-danced" and high-fived that much underwater in a long time. It was fun having the benefits of the long hose and necklaced backup - making what might have been a stressful situation no big deal at all and allowing us to finish our dive at a leisurely pace. I ran a slung 40 for the first time on this trip (thanks ScottSax!) and it worked like a dream... just disappeared behind me... LOVE having the extra gas!

It was great to meet Greg and Pam, and Dave and Todd are great boat mates and of course Don was his usual wonderful self, doing yeomanlike duty as both captain and crew. Thanks to REEF, Janna, and everyone for a great day on the water!

[John Rawlings]

Janna and Tom -

GREAT shots!!!! Sounds like you two had an absolutely wondrous experience!

I've never heard of the "Knuckle" before - gotta go check it out one of these days!

- John

[spatman]

great report and pics! like john said, i need to add the Knuckle to my list, too!

[Grateful Diver]

Impressive photos Janna and Tom ... and a great read on the trip report.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Tom Nic]

Oh - I forgot to mention - we dropped right in front of Flagpole, then took a 120 heading through mid water to get to the Knuckle. On the way out in our stellar viz I'm seeing the sandy bottom below us practically carpeted with hundreds of mature Flabellina triophina and probably a few other species. A photographers dream.... but we were on a mission to get to the Knuckle! My non-photog dive buddies that have twiddled their thumbs while I shot the Flabellina's know how hard it was to swim over them on the way to the Knuckle - but more than worth it!

I wish this dive site was more accessible from shore. I believe you have to go through Mike's Beach Resort, then drive down the beach (none too easy) to gear up in the vicinity. It's definitely a great boat dive.

[John Rawlings]

Does anyone know why it's called the "Knuckle"?

[Tom Nic]

My guess - the rock structure at flagpole in the 50 fsw range gives way to sandy bottom that dips down to 70 or 80 fsw then rises to a rock structure topping off at about 65 fsw that is round and sits in the middle of sand - kind of sitting up like a "Knuckle". It drops off on one side to technical depths and on another to 90 or 100 fsw before turning to sand again.

[boydski]

Does anyone know why it's called the "Knuckle"?

Hi John,

As Tom indicated, the "knuckle" is the deeper rocky reef and wall off of Flagpole Point (where the Cloud Sponges are at). I'm pretty sure you've been there before. I think it's called the knuckle because it resembles a knuckle rising up from the bottom?

The deep wall starts just below and NE of the knuckle.

[Tom Nic]

Great report on your site Scott! And imagine that octopus still being there! :-)

[nwscubamom]

The Knuckle is a continuation of what's commonly called "Flagpole Point" - just south of Mike's Beach. It can be done by shore with a bit of a swim and some good gas management (and plenty of it). To get to it, swim out from the flagpole at about 120 degrees. The bottom will drop down to about 80 or so, then start rising up again into the rock reef. Part of it is large boulders, part of it is solid rock wall and mound.

Many people who do the popular Flagpole Point have no clue The Knuckle is even down there. Here's Nicolle's review of it, and as I skim her review, it sounds like you've been there already, John! She calls it Flagpole Point East:
http://www.pnwscuba.com/reviews/FlagPolePointEast.htm

I've been wanting to go back there for some time, but conditions have to be just right to dive it. Current can go through there, and weather is a factor - and I've been there sometimes and couldn't even find The Knuckle and had to abort in favor of the still way cool Flagpole Point dive site. (remember the time you got stung there Valerie?)

- Janna

[John Rawlings]

OK....I have been there! I've always just considered that as "Flag Pole Point East" as she says in her write-up. I've had some amazing dives there!

I kinda like the name, "Knuckle", though!

- John

[DiverBob]

Janna and Tom - Terrific photos and dive report! That sure does look like fun. Thanks for sharing.

[CaptnJack]

Cool, I'm looking for new to me sites in Hood Canal! Is Dewatto Wall on the south or north side of Dewatto Bay? I have been to Flagpole point, once, maybe 7yrs ago. Its not a charted feature tho, at least not by that name. All these shore-based landmarks are confusing for us boater folk!

[boydski]

All these shore-based landmarks are confusing for us boater folk!

Hi Richard,

GPS coordinates are N 47° 33.825' W 123° 00.847' to the Knuckle itself, although the anchorage is better in 60’ of water closer to the Flagpole. You can't miss the flagpole.

[Tangfish]

Janna, those shots of the GPO and the stubby squid are amazing!

[nwscubamom]

Richard -

Dewatto Wall (aka Cloud Nine) is located on the south side of Dewatto Bay. Coordinates are:
N47 26.837 W123 04.840

Anchor straight out from a little shack on stilts on the shore. Head down the steep cobble slope and turn south at about 110' or 120' depending on the tide height. There is currently a little white buoy there in about 25' of water - we descended down that. You'll hit fields of the invasive tunicate at about 75' and on down. And it's DARK down there - you'll know you hit the wall when your light no longer reflects back.

- Janna

[Tom Nic]

Richard - if you were asking about Dewatto - check with Don or Janna for the coordinates. There's really not much there above the wall. The wall begins at around 120 fsw on a high tide - might be fun to explore with helium and doubles.

LOL - looks like everyone posted at once!

[boydski]

Hi Tom/Janna,

Any idea how deep the bottom of the wall is at Dewatto? Inquiring minds want to know. :biggrin:

[Tom Nic]

Hi Tom/Janna,

Any idea how deep the bottom of the wall is at Dewatto? Inquiring minds want to know. :biggrin:

I have no idea!

[nwscubamom]

If I remember correctly, it's about a 20 - 30 foot wall.

- Janna

[CaptnJack]

Richard -

Dewatto Wall (aka Cloud Nine) is located on the south side of Dewatto Bay. Coordinates are:
N47 26.837 W123 04.840

Anchor straight out from a little shack on stilts on the shore. Head down the steep cobble slope and turn south at about 110' or 120' depending on the tide height. There is currently a little white buoy there in about 25' of water - we descended down that. You'll hit fields of the invasive tunicate at about 75' and on down. And it's DARK down there - you'll know you hit the wall when your light no longer reflects back.

- Janna

Ok cool, I <think> I may have done that in my pre-helium days. I'll try to hit it sometime this winter!