Puget Sound Has Lots To Offer Under Water

Puget Sound water is cold and dark. But to diver Dave Bliss, it’s a playground in water.

“Our nutrient-rich water, mixed with a large water exchange (tides) and currents, provides food for a tremendous number of creatures,” says Bliss, author of a new book, “60 Ultimate Dives in Puget Sound & Hood Canal” ($16.95, Sasquatch).

“You might not see a 20-foot octopus in Hawaii; you see them in Puget Sound,” he says.

“There’s a tremendous, breath-taking beauty in colors here. You lose color as you descend (and water blocks out parts of the spectrum).

“Light brings all those colors back out. Shining the flashlight on reefs reveals beautiful colors.”

So it’s nirvana meets Bliss at 60 feet? Not always, says Bliss, a Packwood resident.

Algae blooms and plankton skew visibility, although during the winter, divers can see about 80 feet.

Visibility may be overrated, he says. “You may see more by not being distracted by the reef way ahead.”

Bliss says divers have to wear heavy full-exposure suits in Puget Sound because of the cold, which is more a hassle on land than in the water; and there are tremendous currents that can be dangerous.

Bliss finds a flip side to that, too, and a way of taking advantage of currents.

The slack current between every high and low tide is a marvelous time for experienced divers, he said.

Under Agate Pass, for instance, the bottom is about 45 feet down and shaped like an hourglass. Divers can drift along at a relatively slow pace in the wider sections, then be whooshed through the narrow, rock-bound part.

Although he’s traveled extensively, Bliss appreciates this area’s mixed bag of opportunities.

“I made 101 dives in the sound last year and didn’t come close to seeing everything there is to see. It’s more adventure diving, more deeper diving, wreck diving, night diving, drift diving,” he says.

Bliss takes some of the challenge out of finding a dive target by giving the GPS locations of the dives in his book.

Global Positioning System receivers, which sell for $150 and up, can find a small spot anywhere on the globe by using a satellite that provides latitude and longitude coordinates.

GPS locations “gets rid of all that driving around in circles and missing the reef. That can waste one of your two dives just to find it.”

The book should be a hit with the 75,000 certified divers in Washington, because it’s the first guide to locate the best boat dives in Puget Sound and Hood Canal, according to the publisher.

One of Bliss’ favorite dives in Puget Sound is Klas Rock, a natural rock reef east of the entrance to Mats Mats Bay near Port Ludlow.

“There are a lot of great reefs, but this is a natural one and it’s had a long time to develop. It’s very colorful, really a beautiful dive,” Bliss says.

Divers find sponges, black pine coral and bead corals; nudibranchs and chitons slithering across seaweed, and warbonnets and blennies peering out of holes.

Other dives that draw praise from Bliss are:

Possession Point ferry. A popular dive destination, the ferry Kehloken is off the south end of Whidbey Island.

Once a popular waterfront restaurant, it was retired to the bottom in 1983 as an artificial reef to enhance fishing.

The rudder is still intact, and a huge turbine is visible, but be cautious of sharp and rusty points, Bliss says.

The reward is the ferry itself, plus a beautiful community of orange-and-white plumose anemones, as well as shy ratfish and sunflower sea stars.

Edmonds oil dock. Diving from a boat eliminates a long swim from shore, and although the currents can be tricky, the dive is suitable for all divers.

The pilings are home to an abundance of marine life and a good spot for photographers.

White plumose anemones cloak the lower portion of the pilings. You may see spider crabs, red rock crabs, dungeness crabs and hermit crabs.

“It’s like diving in an aquarium,” Bliss says.

Gedney Reef. All divers can handle the 30- to 60-foot dive off Gedney (Hat) Island, four miles west of Everett. Because concrete and boulders were dumped over a period of years to form an artificial reef, it reflects various stages of reef development.

Take a light to peer into dark holes and check out the tops of tall rock pyramids, Bliss says.

Sea life ranges from big skates to China rockfish, orange sea cucumbers, sun stars and flounders.