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Pacific Adventure PO Box 550 308913 Hwy 101 Brinnon Wa. 98320 (206) 714-1482
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Dive Sites...
Pulali
Point:
East Wall: On the East side you will find a series of rock walls and steep slopes. This area is approximately 300 yards long and deserves several dives to appreciate the diversity of life and structure. Many people dive this site just to explore the deep rock walls and formations and ignore the shallower depth and all the life found there. The structure is a series of at least three rock fingers that are about 50 yards wide and in places step down to a depth of over 150 feet. The fingers reach toward the bottom and are separated by areas of sand and silt. You will find irregular rock walls that drop up to 20 feet or more at a time. All along the point in this area you will find lots of holes and vertical fractures to search. South Pulali: To the South and slightly West of the East wall, there is a shallow area that consists of irregular rocky terrain, walls and rocky fingers that extent outward from the point to deep water. At this site you can get a feel for what the deep walls are on the East side without going over 70 feet. The top of this wall levels off at about 20 feet where you will find a large and interesting area to explore during your safety stop. West Reef: On the west side of the point there is a detached rock. If you descent from the southwest point of this rock, follow the bottom to the southwest to about 60 feet, you will find a series of small walls that cascade down to over 100 feet. The wall/reef area is probably about 50 yards wide. A good plan here is to follow the rocks down to the max depth you want to hit for the dive, then zigzag your way back up exploring as you go. What will you see? In 15 to 30 feet you can search among the rock and vegetation to find a variety of Nudibranch, including Giant Nudibranch if you’re lucky. Lots of crab, including decorator, kelp, Dungeness, Red Rock and maybe Scaled crab. Of course you'll see gobies, Ronquil and Long Fin sculpin. You should also see warbonnets, gunnels, schools of perch, and maybe one of the harbor seals that populate the area. When you go a little deeper, say to 60 feet, you will start to see the wide variety of rock fish that live in the area. These may include Copper. Quillback, Yellowtail, Brown, Vermillion, Black, Blue, and Yelloweye. There’s Octopus, sometimes out but usually hiding in their dens. There are some large Ling Cod as well as Kelp Greenling. In the cracks during the day you should find Hairy Lithoid Crab and Helmut Crab. You should also find Squat Lobster, sometimes in the dark cracks and sometimes at the entrance to their homes reaching out to scare you away. _______________________________________________________ Return to Top ________ Pinnacle: (Click on Photos to enlarge)
Located about four miles from Pleasant Harbor Marina, “The Pinnacle”, also called “The Seamount” or “The Mound” is one of the all around favorites. This site is an irregular rock formation that rises from the bottom at about 100 feet to the top at about 20 feet from the surface at low tide. The top of this formation is shaped like an egg with the pointed end to the Southwest. The top is very irregular with a rocky ridge that runs in a Northeast to Southwest direction. On the North side there is a rock face that starts about 30 feet and goes down to about 45 feet. The East side is made up of large rocky slopes and drop-offs with some holes almost big enough to swim into. At the South end the ridge that runs along the top continues down to a small bolder slope at the bottom that starts to level off at about 85 feet. You almost always find a pair of Wolf Eels here. As you continue on you will change course and start heading in a more Northerly direction and can either explore the West side, which is less dramatic than the East side, or you can follow a small ravine back to the top. On the top you can explore the rock formations and the life there and work your way up to the highest point for your safety stop. This is one of our favorite dives. There's something for everyone here, and it's an incredible night dive! On this site you should see lots of large life such as Wolf Eels, Octopus, big Ling Cod, Rock Fish, and usually a Yellow Eye that seems to like the south end. You will also find Lithoid Crab in the cracks, Squat Lobster, Nudibranch, Red and White Sea Cucumber. At the shallower depths you will find Gobies, Warbonnets, Gunnels, Grunt Sculpin, Sailfin Sculpin and more. This is a great site to test your identification skills. This site is great for open water or advanced divers, photography, naturalist and night dives. _______________________________________________________ Return to Top ________ Black Point : . (Click on Photos to enlarge)
Black Point forms the Southern entrance to Pleasant Harbor. The point forms a shallow bay on the north side and three small coves on the east side separated by rocky fingers. The dive site is on the southeast corner of the point. Depth along the bottom of the reef is about 45 feet. If you descend on the south side near the Madrona tree in about 20 feet you will find the beginning of a reef that wraps around the point to the east and extends to the north. The beginning of the reef is an irregular rock structure that drops off almost vertically to an average depth of 45 feet. As you approach the north end of the reef you will find a small wall with vertical cracks. Ecplore these cracks carefully for Wolf Eel, Octopus and smaller critters like Sailfin sculpin and Warbonnets. The Rock ends with a wide vertical crack from bottom to top. From here you can follow the rock around to the west and up to the top to explore the top of the reef. Or you can continue to the north and traverse a sloping mostly flat bottom for about 60 yards to find another reef. The first thing you will see is some rocks, then a tire reef that extends to the east. Past the tire reef you will find a natural rock reef to explore with a max depth of about 60 feet. If you look close you should find Wolf Eel and Octopus here. This rocky structure continues a short distance to the north and all the way to the surface. You can explore the shallow areas while making your safety stop. You should see lots of rock fish, Ling Cod, Yellow Eye, Wolf Eel, Octopus, Nudibranch, Red and White Sea cucumber, the ever-present Gobies, Gunnels and Anenomies. You will see Dungeness, Red Rock, Decorator, and Kelp Crab. This is an excellent site for open water divers, photography and naturalist dives. It’s a good spot for the third dive of a three-tank day. _______________________________________________________ Return to Top ________ Rosie's Ravine & Goby Garden: (Click on Photos to enlarge)
These two sites are located about 3.5 miles south of Pleasant Harbor. Rocky Point is a shallow reef close to the point with a max depth of about 45 feet. Rosie’s Ravine is a deep site of about 80 to 120 feet or more. Descend close to the rocks on the northwest side of the point just inside the cove that the point forms. You will find a rock reef at 20 to 45 feet, at some places almost a wall. This reef runs around to the east side of the point and ends where the rock takes a noticeable turn to the west and back to shore. (Turn NE here and follow the bottom down to find Rosie's Ravine) There is more shallow reef (20 - 45 feet) to the south. This is a good site for open water divers because of the interesting structure, reasonable depth, and there’s a lot to see. To find Rosie’s Ravine you’ll make your descent just inside the cove and follow a compass bearing of due east. If you don't find the vertical rock structure at 90 feet turn right (south). Look for Octopus dens and LOTS of Wolf eels. (From one place I’ve looked around me and counted at least 5 wolf eels looking back at me.) There is a lot to explore around the boulders and small walls. Watch your bottom time. Your ascent should allow you to follow the rocks back to the west and a shallower depth. Depending on where you leave the ravine, you will probably return to the shallow reef to spend time for your safety stop. _______________________________________________________ Return to Top ________ Fulton Reef: (Click on Photos to enlarge)
_______________________________________________________ Return to Top ________ Triton Cove: Located about 5.5 miles south of Pleasant harbor on the southeast corner of Triton Head. Here you will find lots of invertebrate life on small rock outcroppings. Depth is 40 to 50 feet. Watch out for boat traffic from the nearby launch ramp. We don't dive here often only because some of the other sites that are nearby offer more area to explore, more depth and more to see. We'll be happy to take you here if you request this site.
_______________________________________________________ Return to Top ________ Elephant Wall: (Click on Photos to enlarge)
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The structure on the bottom is made up of huge slabs of concrete with tubular holes cast into them providing great homes for lots of critters. There's also lots of steel I-beams. I've been told this is the remains of a section of the Hood Canal floating bridge that sank in 1980 and that's exactly what it looks like! We dive this site with a live boat. After a giant stride, we make a free descent in about 45 feet of water to find the shallow side of the structure. Following the tumble of slabs and steel we find huge numbers of Plumose Anemones. Lots of small critters like everpresent Blackeye Gobys, Painted Greenling, and Gunnels. As we find the edge of the structure and the bottom levels off a bit we find LOTS of Painted Anemones, and have also found Skate egg cases! Rock fish we've seen here include Brown, Vermillion, Copper and Quillback. The site is large and there's lots to see! _______________________________________________________ Return to Top ________ The Sisters: (Click on Photos to enlarge)
This is about a 2.5 hour boat ride from Pleasant Harbor so we'd like a full boat. The site is two small pinnacles that rise from a depth of about 60 feet to the surface. The current encourages lots of invertebrate life as well as Octopus, Wolf Eels and Rock Fish. If you don't want the long boat ride up and back we can schedule pickup at Port Ludlow.
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