Local Dives -- Cousteau Knew: Puget Sound Offers Some Of World's Best Underwater Scenery And Animal Life

Mention scuba diving and people often think of warm-water destinations such as Australia, Hawaii, Fiji, Palau, and the Cayman and Bahama islands, but what few realize is the diverse and excellent diving Puget Sound offers year-round.

"I've been to many famous dive spots like the Great Barrier Reef, but I love to dive in Puget Sound because it's abundant with sea life unlike that found anywhere else in the world," said Karlista Rickerson, president of the Washington Scuba Alliance.

Scuba diving is an exciting and rewarding form of outdoor recreation, and with better and more affordable equipment its popularity has grown dramatically.

It's been 50 years since Jacques-Yves Cousteau, known for his television documentaries aboard the Calypso, invented a device called the "scuba" - Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.

Since then, diving has lured an estimated 6 million people in the United States to become certified divers. Each year about 250,000 additional divers become certified. More than 75,000 certified divers are active in Washington, according to the Professional Association of Diving Instructors.

Rickerson, 62, of Vashon Island, became a certified diver in 1979, and claims some of the best marine scenery is found in Puget Sound, around the San Juans, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and British Columbia.

Even Cousteau came to Puget Sound in 1969 to film his award-winning documentary "Octopus, Octopus."

There's a wide array of sea life in Puget Sound, including the large Pacific octopus, luminous sea stars, frosted nudibranchs, tube snouts, colorful starfish, giant sea cucumbers, wolf eels, yellow and rose colored coral, and seals and sea lions, just to name some.

Visibility in Puget Sound ranges from 6 inches to 30 or 40 feet, with wintertime maximums of up to 100 feet. The water temperature ranges from 48 to 52 degrees year-round, so Rickerson recommends a five-eighths-inch wet or dry suit to protect divers from the cold water.

A two-mile stretch of urban beach on Elliott Bay extends from the Seacrest Boathouse to Alki Point, and divers here can enjoy myriad activities, including sunken boat wreck diving.

"There isn't much current in the bay, and diving is very easy at the three coves," said Kathy Whitman, aquatics manager for the Seattle Parks Department.

Dive classes are held frequently in three small coves facing the Emerald city skyline between Salty's restaurant and Seacrest. From these coves, divers can enhance their navigation skills without battling strong currents.

Whitman said one of the most popular cove dive sites, just south of Seacrest, will be closed from the end of June through July for the ferry system's passenger-only water taxi.

For divers who enjoy shipwreck diving, the cove just north of Seacrest has a handful of sunken boats up to 40 feet long, which make a great artificial reef for perch poking their heads through cracks and crevices. The shipwrecks are also home for the giant octopus.

Just north of Salty's is where pilings standing on a sandy bottom in only 30 feet of water are alive with barnacles and curious little fish.

One of the most challenging dives along Alki is the sandy beach shoreline from the volleyball courts to the seawall staircase, located just east of the Alki lighthouse.

The spot has been dubbed by divers as the "Junkyard." Here you'll find household porcelain, refrigerators, stoves and televisions that are perfect hiding grounds for lingcod, octopus, crabs, sculpin, rockfish, flounder and wolf eels.

Just around the corner from the Alki Point lighthouse is another relatively easy dive called the "Alki Pipeline." The old sewer pipeline has been inactive for many years and sea life is abundant.

The reef near the pipeline is very shallow, 15 to 35 feet, so on a clear day visibility is excellent. A tank of air goes a long way at the pipeline, and it's great for novice divers.

The Edmonds Underwater Park is a popular shore dive site, and two huge cement blocks are the outer markings for the park. These two-ton blocks are full of marine and barnacle growth, and have attracted many fish - including huge lingcod - and sea life.

Saltwater State Park, just south of Des Moines, is another underwater park teeming with sea life, and it's a relatively easy dive.

The marine sanctuary at Titlow Beach is a gorgeous dive site. Tolmie State Park near Steilacoom and the sunken barges off Maury Island are both excellent South Puget Sound dive areas.

Hood Canal has many prime diving areas, and some Oregon diving clubs make weekend jaunts there because of its popularity and excellent water visibility. Two places worth mentioning are the Sunrise Hotel Dock near Hoodsport and Octopus Hole near Potlatch State Park.

In the Strait of Juan de Fuca off Highway 112 are Neah Bay, Freshwater Bay and Port Angeles. All three offer some of the most undisturbed sea life in Washington.

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TRAINING LEADING TO CERTIFICATE IS ESSENTIAL FOR SERIOUS DIVERS

Successful completion of a training course to become certified is necessary for divers serious about the sport.

The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) offers training materials and support to 60,000 professional members who offer diving instruction at 3,000 centers and resorts worldwide.

The PADI system of diver education is designed to take a student step-by-step through a variety of classroom courses backed by videos and books.

In order to graduate, a dive student must pass a series of grades. The novice or basic scuba course is designed to provide the essential knowledge of skills needed for diving.

Once the classroom education, usually 25-40 hours of instruction, is completed, training sessions move to a swimming pool or very sheltered waters. The purpose is to familiarize students with diving equipment, making pre-dive checks and learning to breath underwater.

Basic courses are not always certification courses, but rather orientation courses designed to introduce novices to diving.

Open Water One Training is a course to scuba diving that allows diving to a maximum depth of 60 feet.

The five open-water requirements are: swimming 200 yards without stopping while using two or more swim strokes; being able to go 40 feet underwater on a single breath of air; treading water for five minutes; diving 10 to 13 feet to recover a 5 1/2-pound object and bring it to the surface; and floating unaided with minimal movement for five minutes.

Advanced Open Water Diver is further enhancement of knowledge and skills learned in the Open Water One Training course.

For information on the PADI and local diving classes, call 800-729-7234.

The Washington Scuba Alliance meets on the third Monday of every month, 7 p.m., at the Godfather's Pizza in downtown Seattle. For details, call 360-373-7593.

The Northwest Dive News, is a comprehensive monthly guide to diving, and also lists diving activities, clubs and shops.

For information mail a request to P.O. Box 1494, Oak Harbor, WA 98277, call 360-240-1874 or e-mail: nwdive@Whidbey.net