Superfecta Wreck Extravaganza
February 16 & 17 2008                 by Scott Boyd

It was 29° and dark when we left the house. We stopped to gas up the boat, and borrowed a little hot water from the coffee maker at the gas station to thaw out the lock on the truck’s tonneau cover so we could get it all the way closed. Kelp Krawler’s Jeff Carr, Eric Thornton and Scott Boyd hit the road for a five wreck diving extravaganza on President’s Day weekend. All three had to actually work on Monday, so we were squeezing in all five wrecks in just two days.

We launched the boat at Manchester, which is a very nice, free boat ramp, and motored over to the Barbara G, our first wreck dive. We set the anchor and watched the shore divers scrambling down the rocks next to the Harper Fishing Pier for the long swim out to the wreck. We were undisturbed on the wreck of this 65’ long fishing boat that sank during the Inauguration Day storm on January 20th, 1993. The visibility was a lovely 35’ and water was shallow and current free. We had a really pleasant dive, marveling at the crow’s nest and steering quadrant (still attached to the rudder) of the wreck.

Our next mission was to take some photos of Porthole Dive Charters’ new boat, which was on its very first charter. We raised the Mark V on the VHF radio, and found out they were only a couple of miles away at Blakely Rock. We motored over to admire the new boat and to take some pictures for their web site. The divers “posed” for the camera with Seattle in the background and then the Mark V motored off for Waterman’s wall.

We chose to dive “the Boss” as our second wreck, as it was only about a half mile away. The boss is a 70’ long fishing boat, with another 35’ utility boat sitting on top of it. It is a very nice wreck, with lots of critters, and the utility boat still has lots of interesting artifacts to look at. Visibility continued to be excellent.

The Aluminator has buoy tied off to the boss, and came over to use their buoy just as we finished our dive, so we drifted away from the site and headed east. While we were getting our gear organized and tied down, I noticed a suspicious echo on the side scan that looked an awful lot like another wreck. We tossed the hook, and I dropped down into the emerald green water to find a nice lap strake hulled cabin cruiser sitting on the bottom of Blakely Harbor. Sweet! I love finding new wrecks! With a three wreck "trifecta" under our weight belts (four if you count the double at the Boss), we headed back to the boat ramp with big smiles on our faces.

Sunday we hauled Jeff’s boat up to Discovery Bay and found a fishing derby in progress at the Gardiner boat ramp. The fishermen were great, helping to launch and recover the boats and were very interested in the crazy divers heading out into the frozen bay to go for a swim. We loaded up and headed south to Mill Point and found the wreck of the War Hawk on the depth finder. The War Hawk is a Yankee Clipper Ship that sank 125 years ago when it caught fire at the Port Discover Mill and was pushed out into the bay to protect the mill. For being on the bottom for well over a century, this amazing wood hulled ship is in remarkably good shape. We enjoyed the shallow dive, with great visibility and tons of ambient sunlight streaming down upon this relic of a forgotten age. Jeff and I admired the construction details of the hull, finding many copper pins that were heated and used to secure the planking to the ribs as it shrunk. Masts and spars lie along the port side of the boat along with patent engraved fire bricks and bits of anchor chain. Truly a spectacular dive that should be on everyone’s “must do” list.

We recovered the boat and headed back to dive the wreckage of the Hood Canal Bridge. The western half of the bridge sank during a severe storm on February 13th, 1979. We dropped in, fighting quite a bit of current to admire the wreckage that has been sitting under the new bridge for 29 years. You can still see the curbs and striping on some of the old bridge deck, and surprisingly, there is a nice sailboat wreck sitting on top of the old bridge, sails still wrapped around the boom. We peered down into the bowels of the bridge, swam through caverns created by the huge bridge sections and admired the prolific marine growth. Too soon, it was time to swim back to the boat ramp and head for home. What a wonderful way to spend a sunny winter weekend. We actually visited seven different wrecks (if you’re still counting) and observed some fascinating Washington State History in the process.

Al-Ind-Esk-a-Sea
September 10th 2007           by Michael Fitz

The sun came out today for a great diving day with Porthole Charters on the Big Al! It was a delayed birthday present to myself to finally get to dive my second Knot ship, the Al-Ind-Esk-a-Sea. The only sad thing was that Andy had to do his diving in his drink in Arizona instead of with us and Scott was not only missing his camera but was blowing off nitrogen (and other gasses) prior to his flight to Mexico.

After attending the PNW Tech Dive conference on Sunday, we decided to use our new information when we dove one of the big deep local attractions. ET Group members Peter M, Mike H, Mike F, Mike P and Tim C converged at the IHOP for a high fat low carb power breakfast prior to meeting the last Mike involved in the day, Mike Ferguson, the Captain Extraordinaire.

The first dive teamed Peter M and Mike H for the first team with Mike P and Mike F descending about 5 minutes later. Safety diver Tim oversaw the descent and deco. Fergie had dropped the anchor right on the hull and had the line drape over the handrail for an easy orientation. The vis when we got there was about 20'. Peter and Mike H tied off and headed aft. Mike P and Mike F tied off and headed forward over the hull inspecting the portholes, anemone, and the mud layer protecting the hull - or was that obscuring the hull? With the four of us kicking up the bottom, even the fish were having trouble orienting themselves since a 12" something or nother ran right into my right side. He was more shocked than I was and decided to head off to my right. After a great deco (isn't that when you feel better after the dive than when you started?), we headed out for lunch at the Port of Everett.

The second dive was about 3 hours later and there was some surface current. Since I had left my light on in the sun, it was dead when I hit the water. Fortunately, I had a spare so I started the dive a little later and met Peter and Michael P forward on the rail just as they turned. Since I had a little time left, I decided to explore some of the lower portion of the deck. Fergie had dropped the anchor on the bottom right at the intersection of the bridge and rail so I dropped over and went to the bottom. When there, I could look up and see Peter and Mike's lights at the top rail indicating the vis was about 50'. From the corner of the pilothouse/deck intersection, we could look upward towards the bridge. It was covered with anemone and was quite beautiful. After another good deco, we headed back to the dock for the trips home, some longer than others.

As usual, Fergie and Porthole did a great job putting us on the boat at the right time and place with great conditions, many thanks from me.