MBDC Dive Site Review

(Excerpt courtesy of the Diamond Knot Brewery)

The Diamond Knot was a large, 360' cargo ship that sank in a 2-boat collision in 1946. The actual collision occurred out in the Straits of Juan De Fuca, but in the process of attempting to tow it into shore, the Diamond Knot (conveniently) sank in diveable waters. The significance of this wreck was that it contained 10% of the 1946 Alaska's canned salmon production. Something like 2 million dollars worth of salmon! This produced Washington States largest wreck salvage operation at the time. The salvage team cut huge (10' by 50') plates out of the port and deck of the ship, and basically sucked out all the cans of salmon. The Diamond Knot rests on her starboard side, facing East. The large plates now gently rest on the bottom of the Sound in around 140 fsw, with the top of the port side in around 70 fsw. The above image is one of the more "famous" inhabitants of the Diamond Knot. This wolf eel, and his mate live in a boom down near the bottom (starboard side), in around 100 fsw. As far as most people know, they have been there for 10+ years.

The wreck lies in about 100ft of water. Part of the super structure collapsed last year, the state it was in on my dive. Some people rant and rave about this dive. I thought it was okay, I have dove on some I like better. I guess you have to dive it yourself for the real opinion that counts - yours!

There can be some ripping currents here. In fact, I know of a diver who was diving here when the currents picked up on his ascent. Are you familiar with the quick clips (not sure of the proper name for them) but have I seen versions that climbers and sailors use. They are metal with a spring loaded bar you push in. Well, on the ascent, the anchor line slipped right into the clip. The current was so strong he had one hell of a time getting undone before his air ran out. After he told me this story, the first thing I did when I got home was to take the one off of my dive light!

When I dove here the current was so strong in the first 40ft that I had to pull myself along on the anchor line. At 70ft, the current was hardly anything and by the time I was on the wreck there was no current. This site is definitely for the advanced diver.

Reviewed by John Syre

I have managed to dive this site once (I was buddied with John on the same dive he just mentioned). Yes, this is a deep dive, so if you dive with a single AL80, count on only 20 minutes of bottom time. The one dive I did was after part of the wreck had collapsed recently so that a once horizontal mast has shifted so that it sticks up vertically into somewhat shallower depths (around 70ft), but most of the wreck is in the 90-130ft range. Would I dive it again? If I ever go doubles or perhaps with a 120 steel or at the very least, an AL100, but not on a single AL80. This is a good site, but it takes careful planning, and you can't do it justice with only 10-15 minutes to spend at the wreck itself.

Reviewed by Greg Goebel

We did this dive as the frosting on the end of a 3 day trip out to Tatoosh and Duncan Rock. It was 1 1/2 hours out of Pt. Angeles on the Misty Fjiord. When the buoy line was put in it fouled the prop taking Randy Williams and another diver a good 30" to free up. I was concerned we would miss the dive. The site is know for high and erratic currents. But is was a low exchange weekend and we were lucky. It took a full 5" to go down the line to the deck. Diving steel 100's we had decided to stay about 110' to maximize our bottom time. Viz. was 30+ and there was no current at all on the hull. The structure and the fish life were excellent! I'm no wreck fan but this was one of the better dives we've ever done. We only had about 15" there before ascending. This would be a good site for Nitrox and doubles and some decompression. As we ascended the line the current picked up. At the safety stop we were flapping in the current. This would not be a good location to do an unplanned free ascent.

Reviewed by Fritz and Joyce Merkel
January 2004