Name:

Norrander's Reef

Location:

Rockaway Beach on Bainbridge Island, WA

Type of Dive:

Shore Dive

My Most Recent Dive Here:

April 7th, 2007

Number of Dives Here:

1

Reasons to Make the Dive:

Interesting Rock Reef that is covered in life!

Life to See:

Lots of invertebrates, including a variety of nudibranchs, and one of my favorite on this dive:  Creeping Pedal Sea Cucumbers!  The reef is simply covered in life. 

My Own Personal Rating:

8/10  

Directions/Coordinates:

On Bainbridge Island....Find Rockaway Beach.  I don't have good directions right now...

Other Reviews, Site Maps and Resources for This Site:

Pacific Northwest Scuba:  Map, Dive Site Maps, Review

Description:

This is a great dive site.  The rocky reef structure is very interesting, and it is covered in life.  It has a lot of nudibranchs, sponges, sea cucumbers, and other things to see and identify. 

We suited up and made our way down the "stairs" to the rocky beach.  This is the only part I didn't like about this dive...the stairs are a bit treacherous with 100 pounds of gear on my back.  But it was well worth it.

The dive profile here:  Swim out to the orange buoy and descend.  Then follow the line out to the start of the rock reef.  And don't think it will be all boring.  We spotted a plethora of nudibranchs.  Once you hit the rocks, grab your light and look in all of the crevices.  You'll see lots of things all over the rock.  Look carefully, some of the critters can be very small.  We made it down to about 65 few, where the reef "ends" and there is a line to take you to the next part of the reef that is about 85 fsw.  Because we had spend so much time taking pictures, I was at my turnaround pressure, so I signaled coachrenz to turn around.  Our plan was to go back the other side.  He proceeded to make a loop around the last rock structure and end up right back where we had decided to turnaround!  He figured it out, then we headed up the north side back to shore, taking more pictures.  Once we finished the main reef, we headed back along the line.  I stayed enough north of the line to spot a big rocky structure in about 25 fsw that we explored a bit.  Then we came in to shore and had the long slog back to the truck.

All in all, this is a fabulous dive site with lots to see.  And if you get a chance, stop in on Exotic Aquatics on Bainbridge Island.  They were friendly and knowledgeable about the dive site.

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