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Sunrise Beach County Park, Winter 2000
Author: Scott Roberts
Sunrise Beach is
located in Gig Harbor. It's the best shore dive I've ever
experienced. After driving through the gate in the park there is parking
surrounding an outhouse and a covered area. This covered area is perfect
for suiting up in the pouring rain. The only down side of this dive is the
walk down to the beach. The beach is about 100 yards down a sloping gravel
trail. The trail is easy to negotiate, but when you are carrying 40 lbs
and a tank on you back, it gets a bit tiring, especially on the way back.
There are a few rock steps at the end of the trail, but it's not too
difficult. I prefer to enter the water at this point, and wade down the
beach to the old evergreen tree. The middle of the wall is about 100ft out
at a 115 degree compass heading from the tree. The average depth of the
wall is usually about 40ft. I have found that it is best to enter the
water 30 minutes before Tacoma Narrows slack tide before flood. I have had
virtually no current. I hear it can be very nasty if you time it
incorrectly, so be careful and do your research. The first time we dove it
on a full moon, so it appears that you can dive any day as long as you time it
right.
The swim from shore is cobbles at first, turning to sand. After a short swim, you hit the wall. The wall is about 200ft long, and anywhere from 10-35ft high. There are many crevices. The rock is covered with orange and purple algae as well as plenty of animal life including shrimp, nudibranchs, urchins, crabs, rockfish, cabezon, batfish, sculpins, warbonnets, flounder, etc. The highlight of the dive is always the octopi and wolf eels. I've dove here twice. The first time we saw one octopus and two wolf eel. The second time we saw two octopus and two wolf eels. The octopi had spans of about 6 ft. They are huge. One wolf eel was about 4 ft long. The other wolf eel's head was almost as big as mine. The thing is huge. It was all coiled up in a hole, so I'm not sure how long it was.
I really don't like feeding the animals. I don't think it's very healthy for them to get used to that. I couldn't coax the eels out, but I was able to coax an octopus out without food. All I did was hold my hand near the entrance to his hole. He was curious, and slowly approached me. I backed up slowly, and he kept coming. Eventually, he reached one tentacle out and wrapped it around my finger. It's amazing how much control an octopus has over every centimeter of the tentacle. At that point I was a bit nervous that he might pull me into his hole. His other tentacles were outside of my peripheral vision, so he could easily have snuck them around behind me. He squeezed my finger a bit, and I flinched. He retreated back into the hole. It was like shaking hands with an octopus. I hear that they are even more curious if you take off your glove. I guess the like to feel the body heat. Maybe next time.
I like to end the dive by swimming back to the entry point underwater. It's a nice, productive way to spend your safety stop. This is truly a great Puget sound dive, and well worth the hour and a half long trip from Seattle. The not so fun part is hiking back up the hill to the car. If you don't mind taking two trips, you might consider dropping your weights and getting them later. I prefer to take one tiresome trip and get it over with.
Don't let the walk deter you. It's well worth it. Make sure you look in the holes, and bring your dive light.
| Directions, Southbound on I-5 | ||
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| 6: | Take the WA-16 W/SO. 38 ST. exit, exit number 132, towards GIG HARBOR/BREMERTON. | 0.4 miles
(0.6 km)
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| 7: | Merge onto WA-16 W. | 9.4 miles
(15.0 km)
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| 8: | Take the exit towards GIG HARBOR/CITY CENTER. | 0.3 miles
(0.5 km)
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| 9: | Merge onto STINSON AVE. | 0.8 miles
(1.3 km)
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| 10: | Turn SLIGHT LEFT onto HARBORVIEW DR. | 0.7 miles
(1.1 km)
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| 11: | Turn SLIGHT LEFT onto PEACOCK HILL AVE. | 0.4 miles
(0.6 km)
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| 12: | Turn RIGHT onto VERNHARDSON ST. | 0.3 miles
(0.5 km)
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| 13: | VERNHARDSON ST becomes 96TH ST NW. | 0.2 miles
(0.3 km)
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| 14: | Turn LEFT onto CRESCENT VALLEY DR NW. | 0.6 miles
(0.9 km)
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| 15: | Turn RIGHT onto DRUMMOND DR NW. | 0.8 miles
(1.4 km)
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| 16: | Turn RIGHT onto MOLLER DR NW. | 0.3 miles
(0.4 km)
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| 17: | Turn LEFT onto SUNRISE BEACH DR NW. | 0.7 miles
(1.2 km)
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