- Alki & 64th
- Cove 2
- Cove 3
- Keystone Jetty
- Oil Dock
- T-Dock
ALKI & 64th - WEST SEATTLE
Review by
Jill Keeler
Directions to Alki and 63rd (or 64th) AKA “The Junkyard”:
Take the West Seattle exit (number 163A) wish is south of Seattle. This is the exit just past the Tully’s sign. Cross the West Seattle Bridge. After you have gone over the high-rise on the bridge, take the Admiral Way exit. Follow Admiral Way up the hill and through the shopping district at the top of the hill. As you leave the commercial district you will descend the hill. Once you are off the hill, you will come to a stop sign at 63rd Avenue, turn right and proceed to Alki Avenue SW. At this stop sign turn left. Between 63rd and 64th Avenue, you will see a set of stairs going down to the park along the beach. Parallel park along Alki Avenue SW as near to the stairs as possible. The distance from I-5 to the site is about 5½ miles.
After arriving at the site pack your gear down to the seawall for assemblage. Two items of importance here, first, stay out of the bike/jogging/inline skate path, it is well marked and people utilizing this path shouldn’t have to compete for space. Secondly, please use the stairs, not the grassy hill as your pathway, the hill can be slippery and when carrying gear we don’t want you to fall.
The restrooms are housed in a brick building with a blue roof located on the water side of Alki Avenue at 63rd Avenue. The nearest public phone is located on the southwest side of 63rd and Alki.
Many training dives are conducted at “The Junkyard” because it provides a large sandy area at the right depths for skill assessment and is protected from all but the most extreme currents as well as the southerly winds that often occur on the sound, especially in the winter months. Local tides rise and fall by as much as 15 feet, causing currents during the flood and ebb, the currents at “the Junkyard” tend to move opposite of what one might expect, this is due in part to the points. On ebb (outgoing) tide the water will tend to pull you toward the residential area to the west. On a flood tide (incoming) the current will push you toward downtown Seattle. Remember that Seattlites enjoy year-round boating, so be sure to display a proper diver-down float/flag system any time you are in the water.
Over at Alki's seawall, diving can begin anywhere you like. The Junkyard proves that its name is truly appropriate. Here you will find heaps of oval-shaped household porcelain, along with bathtubs, computers, refrigerators, and stoves. Although some may consider such debris environmentally unfriendly, try telling that to the ling-cod fish, octopus, decorator warbonnets, hermit crabs, grunt sculpins, and skates who inhabit it. The old time bath tubs are remnants of the bathtub races of the mid 1900’s.
Alki beach is primarily sandy, turning to pebbles between the seawall and about 50 from shore where the eel grass starts. The eel grass is the nursery of the sea, so look closely for small jelly fish, skates, crab, nudibranch and such. Alki's shallow, sandy bottom averages 25 feet before dropping off to a line at a depth of 50 – 60 feet. This line runs parallel to shore, following this line is a great dive. And out there among the collection of porcelain the line has floats and other obstacles placed along it, so look closely for octopus, grunt sculpins and squid eggs.
As you venture deeper the sea bottom begins its gentle drop off to 100 feet and more. Occasionally, a curious harbor seal may come to see what you are up to, big skates and even a six gill shark have been spotted in this area.