Neah Bay April 11

[pensacoladiver]

Well, I wish I had better news to report but oh well.

We scooted across on the first ferry from Whidbey Island, stoked out of our mind thinking we were going to see just as many rockfish out there as we do here off Whidbey. Had a short stop at Curley's to talk and get the skinny on the best shore diving spots.

Headed up to mile post 5 or so and saw the kelp beds about 50 yards offshore. Conditions were great, no current and only overcast, no rain as of yet. We surface swam out to the kelp which is a reef that runs parallel to the shore and dropped down. Well, it was only 15 feet of water. Ughhh.

And of course, there was not the amazing amount of rockfish I had dreamed of. As a matter of fact, we only saw 2 black rockfish the entire time on the reef, which was 50 minutes.

Large kelp greenling everywhere, but I didn't drive 4 hours to eat kelp greenling!!!

On the plus side, there was a nice sandy bottom and vis was incredible. I would guess 50 feet. There were also huge amounts of shrimp, brine, whatever that would make visibility almost zero. Kinda neat swimming through them.

We headed on down to Snow Creek Resort next, hoping they would have some better gouge. they said we could dive from their area, which is pretty nuch like the reef we dove earlier. OR we could head on into Neah and dive the jetty. There were sure to be rockfish on the jetty.

We drove on into town only to find the logging company had closed the gate across the road to get to the jetty. :angry:
I drove al over hells half acre looking for another way out there to no avail. I almost considered walking the gear out, but it would have been a quarter mile hump. Shoulda took a wagon.

Depressed, we headed back to Snow Creek and dove from their beach with pretty much same results as the earlier dive. Except this time, I decided to go ahead and grab a couple of Kelp Greenling.

Did about 45 minutes there and hit one more spot a few miles up the road, which was another reef in 15 feet of water. By the time we came out, it was raining hard and wind was starting to blow... time to go home.

All in all, it was a decent lesson learned. I need my boat there. With the vis what it was, I can't wait for summer to drag the boat out there for a long weekend.

Chad

[CaptnJack]

Yeah there's not really that much shore diving in Area4 - good thing you got a boat for next time

[camerone]

Yah - the best shore diving in the peninsula, IMNSHO, is off of Salt Creek County Park, about 20 minutes west of Port Angeles. Four excellent entries right into the kelp beds, and an easy decent down to 50-ish feet with lots of stuff. Further west, the places where the shore is gently sloped to get in also don't hold a lot of goodies.

Neah Bay absolutely rocks, but the good sites need a boat - they're all right around Cape Flattery, and there's just no shore access from the steep cliffs...or they're on one of the islands or rocks out there.

[pensacoladiver]

When I got back and took my tanks to the LDS, talking with the owner, I was saying how a small inflatable zodiac with a 5 horse would have been perfect for the jetty and some of the rocks/islands on the straight side. He says "I have an 8 footer with a 5 horse that was given to me, right back here". Even showed me. Aghhhhhhh