Titlow Beach,
Tacoma, Washington

A hundred-pound octopus makes this dive a heavyweight contender.

Puget Sound has many excellent beginner dive training sites, and Titlow Beach ranks as one of the best. Like a ghost town, this abandoned ferry dock was the temporary highway link after a 1940 windstorm twisted the first Tacoma Narrows Bridge into collapse. Underwater, the old pier structure comes alive with white plumose anemones and huge barnacles feeding in the nutrient-rich waters of the Pacific Northwest.

Instructors have long enjoyed this beach because it is tucked away from the hustle and bustle of everyday distractions. From the boardwalk landing high above the water, instructors are able to show their students where the currents are and describe how the back-eddy waters of the beach may affect their dive plans.

With no pounding surf to wade through, beach entries begin with an easy walk down a groomed ramp to water’s edge. Depending on the height of the tide, the rock and sand bottom drops off gently to 35-40 feet/10-12 meters at the outer edge of the pilings. At times other than slack tide, the currents of Tacoma Narrows may become too strong for safe diving, so stay within the maze of pilings to avoid a potential rescue.

Diving during slack current allows divers to explore the undercut ledges beyond the pilings which parallel the shoreline. Here quillback rockfish, octopus and greenling fish abound, along with sea stars and nudibranchs. Schools of black-banded surfperch swim curiously past students during open-water training classes.

Giant pacific octopus deserve their name here in the Northwest. Some lucky divers report sighting specimens with an arm span of more than 10 feet/3 meters. That translates into a whopping 100 pounds/45 kg or more! During the day, these naturally shy creatures can be found sleeping in narrow crevices under rocky ledges. At night, they venture out from their lairs to hunt.

Underwater photographers who always seem to choose the wrong lens need not worry here, because two dives in a day are as easy as changing the lens, above water!

Titlow Beach is a family-oriented place, complete with nearby picnic tables, playgrounds and washrooms. On the boardwalk, there are rinse showers and public telephones. There is a hyperbaric chamber facility in Seattle at the Virginia Mason Hyperbaric Unit. (In the event of an emergency, dial 911.)

Titlow Beach is 43 miles/69 km south of Seattle city center. From Interstate 5, take the Bremerton/Gig Harbor Exit 132 and follow Highway 16 west. Take the Jackson Avenue exit. Turn left onto Jackson, go one-half mile/1 km to 6th Avenue and turn right. Follow 6th Avenue down the hill and across the railway tracks, where a small parking area awaits your arrival at the beach. But hurry, the octopus are waiting.