Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader
Wednesday, March 9, 2016 • C 1
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Wednesday March 9, 2016
SPECIAL LEADER FOCUS
Diving opens new world By Robin Dudley of the Leader
Divers love Port Townsend. Antique bottles are often found on the seafloor, and giant Pacific octopus sightings are common. “Port Townsend is a destination for bottle collectors who dive, because boats dumped their garbage here,” said Don Peterson, co-owner of PT’s Octopus Gardens Diving with his wife, Diane. Peterson said divers consider Point Hudson “the go-to site. It’s the bucket list.” Because diving there is dependent on current, divers often bring their families and stay a few days, he said, the diver waiting for the right combination of tide and light, the families soaking up the shopping, arts and cuisine. At Point Hudson, divers explore the jumble of rocks at the Point Hudson Marina’s southernmost breakwater, slated for removal and replacement in the next couple of years. The breakwaters were built in the 1930s with creosoted pilings and basalt rock probably quarried in Mats Mats. “The octopus have multiple dens down there,” Peterson said. In one week last year, he and Diane spotted giant Pacific octopus 17 times. “The environment at Point Hudson has thrived,” Peterson said, on the
Puget Sound king crab and other colorful species populate the waters off Point Hudson. Courtesy photo by Bruce Kerwin
Related Story Jetty job planned: B9 jetty and nearby, for octopus, rockfish and many other species. Don hopes the new jetty project includes some environmental mitigation, if only allowing the underwater rock to stay in the vicinity. Even though the rock is volcanic basalt, brought there from Mats Mats in the 1930s, “it’s created habitat,” he said. He’d like to see a
nature preserve there, something like Edmonds’ Underwater Park, protecting the rockfish from fishermen and the habitat from harm, and bringing more divers to the area. “There’s a lot of animals living in there,” he said, adding that he hopes the contractors and agencies governing the breakwater replacement project will not remove the rock entirely, but possibly “sweep it over to where the cathedral is. It would recoup a lot faster.”
The “cathedral” refers to a cement block just south of the breakwater, in front of the Northwest Maritime Center. Nicknamed “St. Brendan’s Cathedral” by divers, it was an anchor point for the World War II–era anti-motor-torpedoboat boom that stretched across to Marrowstone Island, at a time when U.S. Navy cargo and warships were in Port Townsend Bay. “By removing one very important area and to not mitigate it and replace it would be wrong,” Peterson said. “As a tourism area, if they completely destroy it, it would be a sad thing to do.” FULL SERVICE Octopus Gardens Diving, named for the giant Pacific octopus as well as the Beatles song written by Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr), offers training, continuing education and equipment for new and experienced divers. Warm diver training lets people start off in a drysuit to dive in comfort year-round any-
Scuba diver Rich Zade drew this map of underwater features at Point Hudson in Port Townsend. The map shows the south jetty with the rocks surrounding it, which are home to many varieties of sea life, including the giant Pacific octopus. It’s available online at octopusgardensdiving.com. Map courtesy Octopus Gardens Diving
Sunday March 13th, 2pM northweSt MaritiMe center 431 water St, port townSend, wa
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o f P s t f e l a n nt-Based e B d n a s y Liv o J eh ing T
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau Free Admission, A Compassionate Living Event For more information visit or visit www.ptveg.com
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where in the world. “People think they’re going to be cold or eaten by a shark, and they think it’s dark. You wouldn’t believe how much light is actually down there,” Peterson said. The seasons manifest underwater, just like in trees on land, he noted. In summer, everything’s in full bloom; in fall, kelp jungles slough off just like terrestrial forests. In winter, with less foliage, underwater rock canyons are exposed. “In spring, you see a lot of babies.” Other local diving destinations include the area near the Port Townsend Marine Science Center pier at Fort Worden State Park, and the wreck of the Ranger, a vessel that burned and sank just outside the Boat Haven. In Discovery Bay, divers often visit an atoll called Ed’s Fault. There are wrecks and artificial reefs – boats that are cleaned and placed deliberately for See DIVING, Page 3▼
Octopus Gardens Diving co-owner Don Peterson (left) and technician Jesse Kruse are pictured at the dive shop’s new location at 2410 Washington St., Port Townsend. Photo by Robin Dudley