Titlow Beach
Located in Tacoma south of the Narrows Bridge.
From Tacoma: Going south on I-5 follow to the Gig Haror/Bremerton exit 132 for Hwy. w6 West. Stay right on the exit ramp following signs for Hwy. 26 West and Bremerton. Just before crossing the Narrows Bridge (you will be going downhill and see it ahead) take the Jackson Ave. exit to a stop light. Turn left onto Jackson. Crossing Hwy. 16 go up hill about 1/2 mile to a light at 6th Ave. and turn right. Follow this down hill (east) and then turning south past a swimming pool and and Titlow Beach Park. Prime parking is just before the RR tracks with overflow back in front of the Park building.
This site is good for divers of all skill levels on a slack current. Coordinate the dive carefully to make sure that you hit slack. It can be very challenging otherwise. The site is an abandoned ferry landing. All that remains are two "walls" of pilings in an open "V" that form the site. There are many remnants on the bottom that make good shelters for a variety of sea life There is a large park adjacent to the dive site. Parking is available in a small lot across the railroad tracks from the site. There are many picnic tables available for suiting up. It is a bit of a hike from the car to the site with full gear. There is a concrete/sand ramp down to the water from the suit up area. Get in the water among the old pilings and surface swim directly to the wall of pilings. Head for the southeastern corner. It is not unusual to have a bit of a surface current on the swim out. You can take a compass bearing and drop down and approach the site underwater if the surface is running too hard. Once you reach the corner, take a moment and rest and catch your breath if necessary. Also take a compass bearing back to shore from this point -- you will need it later. You will drop down into about 30 feet of water. The pilings are covered in Metridium and are breathtaking, especially on a clear sunny day. Work your way along the pilings. There are several different varieties of crab that inhabit the pilings. Buffalo Sculpin, Red Octopus, Mosshead Warbonnet, Grunt Sculpin, and Crescent Gunnels are among the other species that call this area home. I have heard that Wolf eel have been seen here, but not recently. I suspect they may have moved on. You can cross from one set of piling to the next. It is a shorter distance near the south end as this is the smaller end of the open "V". Watch currents in these open areas. Even on a slack it can pick up there. Watch your air so that you can make it back to shore most of the way underwater. Along the swim back in there are things to look at and the swim will be easier underwater. 1000 PSI is a good conservative mark to head in. Get yourself back to the corner where you dropped down and use your compass to guide you back to shore. As you swim along looking at interesting things on the bottom, make sure that you look up once in a while as there are pilings that you can bonk into. Once you reach the pilings you can use those as your guide right up to the shore.
Review by Nydia White
To the south about 100 yards is a pair of lone pilings. If you submerge here and go just a bit deeper and a little south there are some small ledges. Look carefully in these to find ocotpus, resident wolf eels, sailfin sculpins, and grunt sculpins. The ledges are not very long and do not go deep. Not a good place for a lot of divers. This dive is best done on slack before flood to ride the reverse eddy out to the pilings and catch the switch for a ride back to the main pilings group. If you do it on slack before flood you may struggle out there and then have a very hard time getting back when the current switches. Current change here can be abrupt and get strong quickly.
- Fritz Merkel 11/22/03
Major train crossing. Pay attention-don't get hit.