Pinnacle Rock, Sekiu, Salt Creek, Lake Crescent...oh my!

[Jeremy]

Saturday headed out to Pinnacle Rock about six miles east of Neah Bay. As we entered the water there was a loud Whoooosh sound...turned around and saw that there was a grey whale there to greet us! Descended into basically a giant nursery of krill and shrimp....amazing sights! As we headed back, the sandy bottom began to erupt with hundreds of sand lances dashing out of the ground, probably thinking we were a whale about to eat them. What a great dive!

And then...Sekiu. We hit the boulders to the left of the jetty. After meandering our way through the kelp forest we would pull aside some kelp covering the boulder wall and see Picasso-like color everywhere!!

We hit East Beach at Lake Crescent for a nice gear rinse, taking in the boat and the barge.

Sunday we hit Salt Creek where mortuus found a huge Puget sound king crab. The surf entry was a blast and, like Sekiu...color exploding everywhere! saw a caber on on eggs to finish the dive.

Then...Sledghammer at Lake Crescent....unbelievable epic wall! The topography here is breathtaking - sheer walls that never stop - they go on and on.

And finally a last dive at east beach.

What amazing diving we have on the strait!

[youtube]http://youtu.be/9qi7Ekt40sQ[/youtube]

[CaptnJack]

Sounds like fun.

FYI East Beach is technically closed to diving May 1 to September 30th.
http://www.nps.gov/olym/parkmgmt/upload ... endium.pdf on page 15 and there should be a sign at the actual beach. They don't really <seem> mind that much and you'd probably just get a finger wagging if the ranger stopped by.

[Jeff Pack]

Actually my dive buddy and I spent awhile talking with the Storm King Ranger, and the head Ranger in Port Angeles on the East Beach closure.

The Head Ranger will not allow anyone to dive East Beach during the closure time. He cites "parking issues" as the reason for the closure to divers, yet when we asked permission thursday and friday, it was totally dead. So I question that for starters.

The Storm King Ranger was far more amenable to us using the area, but had to defer to the head ranger.

Personally, I think its BS, as we have as much rights as taxpayers to use the area as well. He (Storm King Ranger) suggested folks organize abit and contact the Superintendent for the area.

We spend all day saturday at east beach, watching someone drive a motorized boat about the swimming area the entire day, plus with the Storm King Rangers mentioned of severe budget cutbacks, I suspect they have bigger issues to deal with.

We humped our gear way back and out of sight, so as to not draw attention. Other than the Ranger himself, I dont think any of the other employees even know the area is closed. (at least 2 didnt).

I do question the authority the Head Ranger has to close an area to use, excepting things like safety, damage,etc, none of which were mentioned in the closure. Soley cited was parking concerns.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, there was a motorboat in the swimming area while we were there...lol

[CaptnJack]

Actually my dive buddy and I spent awhile talking with the Storm King Ranger, and the head Ranger in Port Angeles on the East Beach closure.

The Head Ranger will not allow anyone to dive East Beach during the closure time. He cites "parking issues" as the reason for the closure to divers, yet when we asked permission thursday and friday, it was totally dead. So I question that for starters.

The Storm King Ranger was far more amenable to us using the area, but had to defer to the head ranger.

Personally, I think its BS, as we have as much rights as taxpayers to use the area as well. He (Storm King Ranger) suggested folks organize abit and contact the Superintendent for the area.

We spend all day saturday at east beach, watching someone drive a motorized boat about the swimming area the entire day, plus with the Storm King Rangers mentioned of severe budget cutbacks, I suspect they have bigger issues to deal with.

We humped our gear way back and out of sight, so as to not draw attention. Other than the Ranger himself, I dont think any of the other employees even know the area is closed. (at least 2 didnt).

I do question the authority the Head Ranger has to close an area to use, excepting things like safety, damage,etc, none of which were mentioned in the closure. Soley cited was parking concerns.

The Oly NP is only marginally friendly to divers at all. If you piss off the Superintendent over the seasonal East Beach closure, you risk closing the Warren and Steele cars completely. So in the grand calculus, its not really worth fighting about IMO. Its a nice dive, once every few years.

[Jeff Pack]

True, Rock Garden is only fun to do once and awhile, not worth the headache. Just that things like this chap my ass.

Once my dive buddy gets 2 lithium packs, we're gonna do the line run from East Beach to Sledgehammer (and maybe back) on long body Sierras with 2 of Casey Offords super packs in them.

[Mortuus]

If they don't have signage citing the closure on East Beach (I didn't see any this year or last year), are they allowed to do anything about other than wag their finger at you? Without a sign, people have no way of knowing other than through word of mouth

[CaptnJack]

If they don't have signage citing the closure on East Beach (I didn't see any this year or last year), are they allowed to do anything about other than wag their finger at you? Without a sign, people have no way of knowing other than through word of mouth

Oh contraire little one.

It is not their responsibility to tell you every rule via a sign. In some places like Wilderness areas, signs are actually avoided, yet there are plenty of rules governing behavior. Although if you were to actually get cited at East Beach (doubtful), you could probably successfully fight the citation. That would take a trip to Federal court, I think in Tacoma.

I was just pointing out that its technically probibited to dive there in the summer months. Its also technically illegal to "swim" (not sure if that includes diving) more than 50 yards from shore without an attending boat. If you avoid being an ass to other park users or random rangers neither are likely to escalate into much of an issue. If you push it, divers are likely to lose one way or another. Oly NP has not historically been that diving friendly.

[Mortuus]

So where is the best place to find these rules if they are not on-site (for future reference)?

[CaptnJack]

The link I posted has the 2013 compendium of Olympic Park specific rules. There's only 2 relevant to diving. The area around "Ambulance Point" (aka Warren and Steele cars) is by permit only. And only diving at East Beach Oct 1 to May 1.

The more generic rules are on the NPS website and officially in the code of federal regulations (CFR title 36)

[H20doctor]

you should have gone inside the barge ... ive seen other videos of them going into it ... nice vid .. i likey

[Mortuus]

you should have gone inside the barge ... ive seen other videos of them going into it ... nice vid .. i likey

Call me uptight, but I don't think I would want to go in there without some sort of cave/wreck training. If there is one thing I have learned by looking back on my last ~275 dives or so, it's that I don't know what I don't know. That barge does indeed look very tempting to go inside, but it also looks like it would be very easy to silt out, get trapped, etc, etc--especially on a single tank (which is what Jeremy dives). I would at least want a set of doubles if I were to do that without any sort of training (which I don't). One of these days I will venture inside that barge though...

[dwinslow1]

Great Diving and Great Group of friends