Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Alki Pipeline Dive


Alki Pipeline Dive
Photo & Text Copyright 2010 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.
I spotted a float out in the Sound off the southwestern tip of Alki Point in West Seattle. As I was trying to make out what it was exactly, two heads and two sets of flippers popped up and I realized there were a couple of scuba divers way out there enjoying a Sunday outing under the surface. They were exploring Alki Pipeline, a popular and fairly easy dive site of about 30' depth. It offers fairly clear views of abundant sea life including octopus, skate, anemones, sea stars, eel grass, crab, squid, and sometimes seals. It is called the pipeline because the interesting sea life can be seen while swimming among the rocks along an old 6' diameter sewer pipeline off shore. About four miles in the distance beyond the divers you see the northern tip beautiful Vashon Island where the Washington State ferries dock.

4 comments:

brattcat said...

Talk about having your camera in the right place at the right time. Did you ever want to do down there to explore?

Marie-Noyale said...

One must be very brave to dive in cold waters!!....

Louis la Vache said...

"Alki Pipeline"?!
«Louis» thought you had come up with a new name for the drunk tank...

Kim said...

@ Brattcat: I've been lucky enough to be a certified diver in my college days and very much enjoyed exploring on shore dives like this in SoCali. One of my Flickr photo buddies and his wife often post shots from their dives in exotic waters, so I get to see some of the wonders without donning a wet suit! :-). I still enjoy tide pooling!

@Marie-Noyale: The water here on the west coast is colder than back on the eastern shores, but surprisingly, the waters up here at latitude 47 are within three or four degrees of that in California. Wet suits these days make it fairly comfortable for water sports entusiasts. I don't know if Puget Sound has warmer waters (100 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean) but would think it might be a degree or two higher.

@ Louis: LOL. It is pronounced AL KAI, not AL KEE :-).