Difficulty
intermediate
Viz (last reported 17222h ago)
Max Depth
35.1 ft
Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at Sunrise Beach Park
This site has it all! Well, almost-- no wrecks, no Whale Sharks-- but if you are looking for interesting marine life, this is the place. With a creviced wall at about 30 to 60 feet deep and 100 feet long, you'll spend most of your time exploring the nooks and crannies. Wolf Eels and Octopus are the highlights. Bring two tanks, and plan to spend the day in the area-- but not the night, as the gates are locked at dusk. If you aren't familiar with using the tide tables, don't dive this site-- the current can surprise you!
Found in Gig Harbor, about 6 miles NW of Tacoma. Take either exit of Highway 16 to get to Gig Harbor, and wind your way around to the North part of the harbor.
You'll find yourself on Peacock Hill Ave NW.
Make a right on 96th Street NW, then a left on Crescent Valley Drive.
In less than a mile, turn right onto Hallstrom Dr. NW and follow the signs down to the park.
Remember the landmarks going down, as you won't find "Gig Harbor: This Way" signs coming back up!
Access
shore
boat
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Nearby Shops
Tide Report
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Cliff Ells
Jan 12, 2003, 12:00 AM
scuba
Easily one of the best shore dive sites in Puget Sound to see large amounts of interesting sea life and interact. For shore dives, there is a fairly large hill to hike down/up, and the ledge to explore is 150 yards north of the entry point. You must wade/snorkel along shore (beach is private property) to reach it. Otherwise, enter the water, descend the slope to about 40 feet and swim the contour north for 10-12 minutes to reach it. There is minimal to no slack on ebb tides making this dive risky at low tides, Sunrise has prolonged slack times during flood tides. Flood slack equalizes about 40 minutes before the indicated slack at the Narrows. Be careful here, the exchanges tend to push you downward and outward. Best times to dive are before high slacks with minimum exchanges. Look for sea urchins when beginning your dive, you can get SEVERAL wolf eels out and wrapped around you begging for food with a little effort!