Shilshole "Wrecks"

I love maps - especially marine maps. I always have since I was a kid. When I was growing up, we did a lot of boating in the spring, summer, and fall in Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands. As soon as I would find out from my parents where we were going for a weekend, I would study maps of that area for hours trying to figure out what areas were best for bottom fishing and within striking distance of my invincible Livingston dingy powered my trusty 4 HP Evinrude motor. When looking at maps of the Shilshole Bay area as a kid, I distinctly remember seeing a little circle on the map just to the south of the entrance to the Ballard Locks that simply had a 70 in it (indicating depth in feet) with the word "wreck" beside it. I never thought that twenty years later I would be diving in that little circle.

Actually, the map was wrong. It should have stated "wrecks" . Funny thing is that I have been diving for about 6 years, and never even heard about this site until recently. Strange to have an unfamiliar site essentially in Seattle, literally in my own back yard.

Dive Profile: The wrecks at this site that I know of are several old barges and a tugboat. I have heard rumors of other wrecks in the immediate area, but so far we have only been able to locate three of them on the depth sounder. Most of the wrecks are relatively close, but probably not within reasonable swimming distance of once another for most people. Besides, as the depths here are usually between 70 and 100 fsw, I would rather spend my no deco bottom time checking out the wreck and associated marine life rather than cruising over hundreds of yards of silty terrain with a compass bearing that MIGHT put me on a collision course with the wreck.

Although there are many "barge" dives throughout Puget Sound (Gedney Island, Maury Island, and Seahurst to name a few), Shilshole offer a unique barge diving experience. It seems that nature pulled a fast one and sank one of the barges on it's edge - which at first glace appears to be the equivalent of flipping a coin, and having it land on it's edge. What I suspect happened is that the steel barge was moored, and started to list for what ever reason (taking on water, cargo shifting in a storm, etc.). As it listed, the blast rock and/or cargo shifted with the list, causing the barge to list further. By the time the barge slipped beneath the surface, it was entirely on edge, hit the bottom on edge, and stayed on edge. So what does this mean to a diver? It means a double sided wall dive on a silt flat, none the less! That right! The barge sits on the bottom on edge lengthwise. I would guestimate the barge to be about 150 feet long, 15 feet wide, and stand about 40 feet off the bottom. Very cool!

The "vertical barge" as it is known, rests in about 80 fsw at it's deepest point. The terrain surrounding it and the other wrecks I have done in this area so far is VERY flat - almost no slope whatsoever. There are some gapping holes throughout the barge, but it appears to have maintained most of its structural fortitude so far. Undoubtedly, natural will eventually return the barge to the earth from which it's materials were originally extracted. Until then, it makes for a very unique dive experience.

Another wreck that is easy to locate with a depth sounder is an old wooden tugboat, located only a couple hundred yards or so from the vertical barge. The main structure of the tugboat is very intact, however major signs of decomposition are readily evident. I would guestimate the tugboat to be about 70 feet long and is located is slightly deeper water (about 90 fsw). The funnel of the tugboat is still intact.

Other wrecks also plague this area. We located one other wreck in about 100 fsw that we think is a barge. We have also heard reports of several more barge wrecks to the south, southwest, and west of the tugboat wreck.

Marine life: I was thoroughly impressed with the amount of marine life that flocked to the tugboat. Some people that dove these sites before me stated that they were fairly barren. However, my experience was different. Upon descent to the tug, I was greeted by a nice sized school of Striped Seaperch. Brown, Copper, and Quillback Rockfish patrolled what is left of the tugboat decking. Lingcod and Painted Greenlings rested on and around the wreck. None of the fish were very big, but there were plenty of them. Beautiful white metridium decorated most of the flat surfaces on the wreck. Around the wreck, Orange Seapens, Sand Roses, Sunflower Stars, Swimming Anemones, and occasional nudibranchs added color to the surrounding seascape. I was really enthralled with the marine life here.

Life on the vertical barge was very similar from a variety standpoint, just not as concentrated. However, I think the vertical barge is worth diving just to see the structure alone.

Getting here: Finding the general area of all these wrecks is easy. Actually explaining how to get here explains why there are so many wrecks here in the first place. The key is look for the huge white commercial mooring buoy. There are actually two of them in this area, and the wrecks are located near the southern most (who knows, there may be wrecks near the northern one too). These buoys are huge white cylinders, about 10 feet wide and stand 5 feet above the water. They are intended as temporary anchorages for barges and other commercial vessels. Apparently, some of those moored vessels were not up to what Mother Nature had to dish out while at anchorage, and they sank.

The tugboat is located JUST to the north of the mooring buoy, and the vertical barge about 150 yards to the east. I have GSP coordinates if you want them.

The buoy is located to the north of West Point, and to the south of the entrance of the Ballard Locks. When diving here, we launch at the Shilshole public ramp and cruise only about 2 miles to the south to find the buoy. As the buoy is located a fair ways off shore, there is no reasonable chance of doing this as a shore dive.

Hazards: Diving here could easily be considered advanced diving, as depths are a major issue. The shallowest of the wrecks we have found starts in about 70 fsw, the deepest runs down to about 100 fsw. As diving here may require a free ascent from 100 feet in current, I wouldn't take anyone diving here who was comfortable performing open water ascents and deco stops.

Although I am not an avid wreck diver, I really liked these wrecks as they have apparently been down for a while. Any place that offers a refuge for countless varieties of marine life is all the incentive I need to burn a tank or two. And with it being so close to Seattle, it makes for a quick two-tank dive trip. Maybe we should tie up some of the old Bremerton warships to these buoys and hope they sink here too.

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