Keystone

Level: all

How to get there: Take the I-5 to Exit 230. Turn left (west) on Highway 20. Follow signs to Oak Harbor/Deception Pass. Drive through Oak Harbor and follow signs to the Port Townsend ferry. Highway eventually comes to a light (Main Street) where you can go left to Coupeville (great pub with steamed mussels there after a dive) or you can turn right and head to the Port Townsend Ferry. Go right. Dive site is beside the ferry terminal. Park in the lot.

Facilities: Washrooms and changerooms. Hot pay showers. Cold water gear rinse. Picnic tables and BBQ pits. Cafeteria with telephone.

Hazards: Current at end of jetty and in pilings. Ferry traffic on opposite side of jetty.

How to dive this site: Two dives here - along the jetty and in the pilings. Going along the jetty, swim out on the non-ferry side maybe half-way along jetty. Descend and continue along the jetty. Take a light to look in all the cracks and crevices. Watch for current towards the end of the jetty - if you feel it, you can pull yourself along the bottom to get back. To get to the pilings, have a look at the current first. It can get quite strong and make the swim across almost impossible. Start your swim up past the cement block - the current will push you towards the jetty, so you need to consider your swimming strength. Once you make it to the pilings, descend down among them. try and stay inside them as the current can be quite strong outside.

What to see: White plumose anemones cover the rocks that make up the jetty. Wolf-eels, sometimes. Octopus under almost every rock you look at. Kelp greenlings so *tame* you can hand-feed them. Lingcod. Rockfish - all types. Grunt sculpins, always a favorite. A sailfin on a night dive. Nudibranch. Seastars. Anemones all colors. Little sculpins of every kind and color. And divers - lots of divers, especially on sunny weekends - plan to be there early before others arrive.

My tally: 32 dives

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