Name:

Alki - Cove 2  (AKA "The Office.")

Location:

West Seattle, Washington

Type of Dive:

Shore Dive

My Most Recent Dive Here:

4/24/2006

Number of Dives:

6

Reasons to Make the Dive:

Boats, life, harbor seals that dive with you, lots of "human stuff" on the bottom to look at.  Restrooms...easy shore access...

Life to See:

It's late...I'm tired...I'll finish this section later...

OK, it's not late.  But after three dives, I just haven't seen much life there.  Based on other dive reports and pictures, there is a lot to see.  I just haven't been the beneficiary of seeing it.  Yet.  Although on my most recent dive, we spotted a nice Ling Cod in the shallows after our safety stop.

My Own Personal Rating:

8/10 

Directions/Coordinates:

From I--5, either direction, take the West Seattle Bridge.  Exit at Harbor Avenue.  At the light, turn right and go along the water, past Salty's.  Find the parking lot on the right side by the fishing pier.  Park here if you can find a spot.  Otherwise, use the street.

Other Reviews, Site Maps and Resources for This Site:

PNWScuba comes through again.  This link has an aerial photo, review, and a very detailed dive map.

Description:

This is a shore dive and a very popular site.  Since I live further south, it took me a while to get to this site.  I didn't know what I was missing!  This site has so much "stuff" on the bottom...not all of it alive, either.  On the way down, I saw more pilings, pipes, cables, concrete blocks, and other UUOs (Unidentifiable Underwater Objects).  I was almost on sensory overload.  On the way down, we saw a Pacific Winged Foot Snail.  Very cool!  Saw a large ling cod on the way down also...and a boat...and lots of other stuff.  But at some point on the dive, I got narced.  So my retreat was quite hasty...and I got a bit stressed, so I ran through my air rather quickly.  Needless to say, I didn't get to spend the leisurely time I would have liked.  So I'll be back here for more.  At that point, I'm sure the rating will go up a bit.  A month later...I went back, this time with my regular dive buddy.  And we didn't have much of a good dive either.  So I'm "0-fer" at this site so far.  I'm hoping to get a "host" to take me on the next dive here so I can see the great stuff that is rumored to be there.  Another month later...I went back.  Finally found the Honey Bear, but I still am not impressed with this site.  Speaking with somebody about the dive, they said most of the good stuff is deeper.  I'm not ready for that yet...so it'll just have to wait.  Maybe then the rating will go up.  Addition:  Had a slightly better dive here on April 22nd, so my rating increased slightly...  (Edit:  3-10-07.   We did two great dives last night at Cove 2, and had lots of fun.  We saw seals, decorated warbonnets, a golden dirona, a starry flounder, a GPO, and lots of other great stuff!  My rating of this dive site went way up.  This is a site you need to take slow, and explore ALL of the structures, including the pilings.)

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