Sunny Side Park

Sunny Side Park

Washington, USA West
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Unrated
Viz (last reported 19047h ago)
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Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at Sunny Side Park

Sunny Side Park is a perfect place for a relaxing day of diving. Away from the currents of the Narrows, you can be assured of an easy dive with plenty to explore. An abandoned sewer pipeline that runs off-shore from the beach always has plenty of creatures to observe. Found 13 miles South of Tacoma, there are other ways to get here. The easiest, most direct route is to take Exit 119 North on Steilacoom Road. This road winds its way down to the water where it becomes Union Ave. Take a right on Lafayette, and continue on as it becomes Chambers Creek Road. You'll see the park on your left.
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4.5
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H2OGrrl
H2OGrrl
Jun 1, 2014, 12:00 AM
scuba
My buddy and I have been exploring South Sound dive sites and this one came up as worth a look. We both enjoyed the site enough to do 2 dives the day we went. Here are some bullets to narrow down the pros/cons. <br>Pros: <br>1) Good accommodations at the park picnic benches, outdoor shower, bathrooms, play ground, undercover BBQ area. <br>2) From inside the park it's an easy walk down the stairs to the beach and dive entry point. <br>3) Super easy to find the start of the pipeline: From the outdoor shower set your compass to 290 (or the right side tip of the island across the water) and go until you get to ~35-45fsw, depending on the tide. <br>4) Small pipeline on a very gradual slope. We only followed it down to 80fsw, but the pipeline carried on after that. Deeper exploration is possible. <br>5) Underwater lines that lead to the sunken skiffs, frosty the snowman and various other items. Worth the tour. <br>6) Lots of critters: GPO's, sea pens, surf perch, rock fish, crabs, gunnels, tube snouts...so many critters. <br>7) Even on a 10ft exchange (8ft to -2ft) we experienced almost zero current on both of our dives. Though it is always a good idea to follow all safe diving practices when planning your own dive...meaning, our easy current day may have been a fluke. <br>Cons:<br> 1) Parking is currently $5/day. Bring cash, they don't accept regular park, state, etc. passes. <br>2) Parking fills up FAST, especially after 10AM on the weekends. Don't expect to find parking in the summer if you arrive later. <br>3) It's a bit of a walk from the parking lot to the gear-up area (by the outdoor shower). <br>4) Tons of boats in the area during the summer, so bring a flag. (Note: We did bring our flag and the boats graciously obeyed the 200' rule…and came toward the shore as soon as we took our flag out of the water after our 2nd dive. Lol!)
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