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Alki Beach Park
 Seattle, WA
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Max Depth: 81-90ft/25-27m
Average Viz: 5-10ft/2-3m
Entry Type: Shore
Bottom Composition: Sand
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Rating: 3.71 by 14 divers
Spring: Under 50°F/10°C
Summer: Under 50°F/10°C
Fall: Under 50°F/10°C
Winter: Under 50°F/10°C
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Alki Beach Park is a shore accessible salt water dive site, located in Seattle, WA. This dive site has an average rating of 3.71 out of 5 from 14 scuba divers. The maximum depth is 81-90ft/25-27m. The average visibility is 5-10ft/2-3m.
The Alki Beach Park is often overlooked. Excellent marine life can be found here, and it makes for great night dive as well. Access is easy, and facilities are available. Bring the kids, and make a day of it!
Directions: Just South of downtown Seattle, take the West Seattle Bridge to hop over to West Seattle. Just before the bridge ends, make a right onto Harbor Ave SW. Drive Northwest until you round the point and find yourself heading Southwest on Alki Ave SW. The whole stretch is considered Alki Beach Park, but drive to the end of the beach section before parking. Just before the beach residences, there will be a pathway down to the beach.
I have dived this site a few times now, day and night. This is not a site to look for "big" things. It’s a spot to go slow, keep your eyes open and spot interesting things. There is a line that parallels shore in about 60-65 ft of water. Surface swim out to the buoys for this line (we saw an octo playing in the eelgrass one day) and drop down a buoy. Follow the line, and you’ll see man-made "reefs" along the line. We have found large numbers of nudi’s, ratfish, and sole/other flatfish as well as the occasional stumpy squid, ronquil and other critters. It’s a nice, easy place under water, with a line to follow. Watch for silt stir up- it’s easy to do here. The bad part, and why this is not the best place for an inexperienced buddy team (without a more experienced person along) is the currents, and the possible surface conditions. Currents here are wonky. The current here always floods (heads SSW) except for the second half of the ebb, when it reverses. That means that slack is usually about an hour before max ebb. Not what you might expect. The good news is that the current parallels shore and you can swim perpendicular to it to get back in. The bad news is that you might end up somewhere you don’t expect. Final note: On one dive in 12/06, a storm blew in while we were on the dive. We surfaced to hail and Large waves. Luckily tide was low enough that the waves were not throwing us into the seawall. Even so, this was the most difficult exit either of us have experienced, and I did end up having to assist my dive buddy more than a little bit. This was crawl/drag yourself up the beach and get maytagged by the surf. If it had gotten any worse (or if I had realized she had a free-flow from the sand in her reg) I would have been ditching gear. Lesson learned? WATCH THE TOPSIDE WEATHER. Here and everywhere you dive.
A great chance to see a fantastic collection of vintage beer bottles, view some old bricks, and see a bunch of crap (I even saw the crapper). If you are lucky you might find the little boat, but it’s not such a big deal. I’ve done this dive, and I’ll never waste my time on it again.
http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/USA_West/Washington/Alki_Beach/index.htm