Saturday, September 7, 2024
Living near Puget Sound offers access to great seafood and stunning sunsets. But there’s more – the Mukilteo and Edmonds shorelines share a vibrant ecosystem beneath the water.
Every weekend, classes and recreational divers visit the cities’ underwater parks. In Mukilteo, a fascinating world waits below the dark, greenish water. Divers can follow a 15-foot training line to a 20-foot-tall geodesic dome constructed from PVC pipe. Thanks to dedicated divers, a rock formation leads to the dome, which rests more than 50 feet below the surface. West and east ropes direct divers to a 100-foot line. Beyond 100 feet, qualified divers can explore sunken boats home to several ecosystems.
Unlike the Edmonds Underwater Park at Brackett’s Landing North, the dive site in Mukilteo, next to the Silver Cloud Inn, is not yet an official dive park. However, a group of divers has urged Mukilteo councilmembers to designate the area an official one.
“In doing so, we can place regulatory buoys to separate the power boats from divers,” said master scuba diver trainer George Barron. “Safety is our No. 1 priority, and we would hate to see our divers injured because of boat propellers.” Barron said nearly 5,000 divers visit the Mukilteo park every year. He believes it’s only a matter of time before someone gets injured.
“We have done so much in Mukilteo. We have been diving there for the last 30-plus years. We aren’t asking the City to change how the park is run. We feel that we’ve got a pretty good idea about what needs to be done, and we communicate that with the City officials regularly.”
Cold-water diving can be a thrilling, otherworldly experience, and the mystery of the deep continues to attract those willing to slip under the waves.
“It’s hard to say how many certified divers are in the Northwest,” said dive instructor James Walley, a longtime Mukilteo diver. “But the last time I saw an unofficial western Washington census, it pinpointed that around 10,000-25,000 divers were exploring our waters. I am thrilled many people have signed up to get certified or expressed interest over the past few years. Some people like climbing mountains or hiking, while others are curious about the underwater ecosystem. Who can blame them?”
An engineer by day, Walley has been an instructor in King County for 10 years. Fifteen years ago, while vacationing in Florida with his wife, he tried “snuba diving” for the first time. It combines scuba diving and snorkeling, allowing non-certified tourists to breathe freely using a regulator, an air hose reaching 20 feet, and a tank sitting on a raft.
Snuba has no age restrictions, unlike scuba diving, which mandates participants to be at least 10 years old, able to swim, and in good physical health.
“People on vacation don’t have to be certified; they can just jump in,” Walley said. “I don’t think I would have ever discovered a love for scuba diving if not for that day we went snuba diving. When we got home, we found our local dive shop and got certified. It has changed my life. It’s an activity my wife and my two boys look forward to when we travel. Our vacations are usually based around areas where we can dive, mostly in warm water, the Caribbean, and the Sea of Cortez on the West Coast.”
The time it takes to obtain a scuba diving certification varies depending on the level of certification divers want to achieve. For example, the primary certification is the open water certification, which typically takes three to five days to complete. It combines written tests, pool training, and open-water dives. Those interested can take courses at their local dive shop. There are 10 Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) centers in western Washington.
While warm-water diving is the most popular, once you get the itch for diving, cold-water diving can be exhilarating, despite the addition of needed outerwear. The recreational diver typically wears a 7-millimeter wetsuit. For enthusiasts, a waterproof dry suit might be more suitable. A typical 7-millimeter wetsuit can cost anywhere from $200 to $700. In contrast, a quality dry suit starts at $1,200 and can go up to $2,500.
“When I started diving in Edmonds, I purchased a run-of-the-mill wet suit,” said North Seattle resident Hellen Rosen. “But that changed after I caught the bug, so I splurged and bought a fantastic DUI dry suit. It wasn’t cheap, but I recommend it to all divers who love our waters.”
Local divers Mac Poole, 21, and Bryce Christianson, 21, use sturdy dry suits and have never missed an opportunity to explore the mysterious underwater secrets. Poole started diving as a teenager and is now an instructor.
“I went through a Seattle dive shop,” he said, “and then I got my open water and advanced training here in Washington, but I finished the rest of my training in Key Largo, Florida. I can say it’s one of the best purchases I’ve made. But I do love diving in warm water wearing just cargo shorts.”
On a sunny, warm Saturday afternoon in Mukilteo recently, people in shorts and tank tops strolled the Mukilteo boardwalk. Some flew kites, while others enjoyed ice cream. But not Poole and Christianson, who appeared from the chilly 45-degree, diamond-sparkling Mukilteo dive site, smiling from ear to ear.
“There’s nothing better than going underwater and embracing all the magnificent marine life,” said Poole. “We usually see something new every time we go out. Something always surprises us.”
Although divers have been splashing into Puget Sound in Edmonds since the 1930s, it wasn’t until 1970 that City leaders established the Edmonds Underwater Park as a marine preserve and sanctuary.
In 1972, they sunk the 94-foot tugboat Alitak northeast of a dry dock submerged in 1935 to act as a buffer between the ferry dock and the park.
And it was in 1977 that a string of fatal accidents there prompted Bruce Higgins to work with the City to make the park safer.
Higgins is the acknowledged guru of the 27-acre park, which extends north from the ferry dock. He is the leader of a group of about 30 fellow divers who meet on weekends and are the park’s volunteer stewards.
After meeting with the City in 1977, Higgins and volunteers placed the first of the numerous buoys to mark trails for safety in 1978. Today, the park has a number of manmade reefs and numerous sunken vessels – the Fossil in 1982, Mollow Brown in 1996, and the 70-foot Triumph in 1999.
In 2009, a 100-foot-long, 19-foot-high pontoon was sunk west of the Triumph. It originally was a “fender” designed to guard ship passages under one of the I-90 floating bridges.
No one has taken advantage of the park more than Higgins, who in 2007, in acknowledgment of his outstanding work as a volunteer dive coordinator and the main force behind the ever-expanding list of submerged features and trails, the City named the trail system the “Bruce Higgins Underwater Trails.”
“I started the diving group in 1991 and have probably dived about 3,000 times,” said Higgins, now in his 70s. “None of this would be possible without the great volunteer effort.”
The Edmonds Underwater Park is open from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Night divers need a special permit from the City. Parking in and around Edmonds, including the park, is limited to three to four hours. Park stewards meet on Saturdays and Sundays at 9 a.m. for anyone interested in helping to keep the dive site clean.
There are good and not-so-good times to dive in the Pacific Northwest waters, whether you run into an intimidating cabezon or a school of ordinary fish. According to Jonathan Bench, an instructor at Underwater Sports Edmonds, September through May is the best time to dive.
Puget Sound’s average yearly water temperature fluctuates between 45 and 55 degrees. Bench said colder water is preferable, although it’s common for the water to be warmer than the surrounding air.
“I remember coming out of the water and snow was falling,” said Seattle resident Adam Hooloe, 33. “It was Christmastime, and my brother and I were training at Alki Beach. It was amazing. The visibility was perfect. I remember not wanting to get out. Our parents thought we were nuts. They don’t dive, so they didn’t get it.”
Resources
Underwater Sports: 264 Railroad Ave., Edmonds. Undewatersports.com, 425-771-6322.
Evergreen Dive Service: 4610 Evergreen Way, Suite 1, Everett. Evergreendive.com, 425-512-8811.
Lighthouse Diving Center: 13718 31st Ave. W, Lynnwood. Lighthousediving.com, 425-771-5959.
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