Maury Island Barges - The Dock is a boat accessible salt water dive site, located in Maury Island, WA. This dive site has an average rating of 3.50 out of 5 from 2 scuba divers.
The barges were once quite a site, but alas the effects of tide and time, not to mention other boats knocking them down, are reducing them to piles of rotting wood scraps. None the less, it’s still a decent dive, with chunks of the barges still intact creating hiding places for perch, lingcod and rockfish. You will usually see quite a few kelp greenling and ratfish here as well.
The barges are located at the base of the three southern most dolphins, running diagonal from the dolphins to the south east. The water is only about 30-40’ deep at the base of the dolphins, descend them and swim downhill and you will begin to encounter debris from the barges in about 40-50’. The barges intersect so you can easily swim from the remains of one barge to the others. Max depth is about 80’ at the stern of the deepest barge.
There is also the hull of a fiberglass cabin cruiser just below the first set of dolphins to the south of the conveyer belt in about 50’. Drop down the dolphin or swim north from the barges. It is approximately a 45º swimming north-east from the base of the dolphin.
Spend you safety stop checking out the pilings. The pilings are in shallower water the closer to the conveyer belt you get (probably due to debris over the years falling off the belt).
Special Restrictions:
The Maury Island Barges are pretty well protected from current but please check the conditions on site and be your own judge. Otherwise, look out for fishing line and hooks, and fly a dive flag as this is a popular site for dive charters and fishermen.
How to get there:
This site is to the East end of Maury Island which is on the east side of Vashon Island connected by a man-made strip of land. The Barges are located directly in front of an old gravel quarry about halfway down the east coast of the island. If coming from the north, you will see a large community of houses, then an area of the hillside is barren of trees with some exposed dirt slopes and roads. The old conveyer is still in place and confirms you are at the right pier. The conveyer ends at a row of pilings parallel to the shore. Tie up to any of the southern most clusters of pilings (called dolphins). the barges were tied to the pilings when they sank so just descend the and swim downward. There are three barges between the conveyer and the southern most piling. The pilings are in 30-40 feet of water.
Well they said it was a boat dive, and we should have listened! I looked at the site with Google Earth and found a dirt road that went down to the site. When we got there we found out that it was gated off and laced in razor wire (old mining area). We then headed to Sandy Shores 3/4 mile south. Access to the water is easy but you have to stay off private property. So we swam it.... It took 45min to get there.... I wouldn’t recommend swimming this to anyone unless they were a hardcore diver.
http://www.theperfectdive.com/DEF-Site.asp?sID=31
http://www.boydski.com/diving/dives/Maury-Island-Barges.htm