About Revisions Waddah Island Fingers WA More Info Max Depth: 71-80ft/22-24m Entry Type: Boat Bottom Composition: Sand/Rock Aquatic Life: Might See Something Spring: Under 50°F/10°C Winter: Under 50°F/10°C 10/09/2012 11:38 AM LatitudeAdjustment

From Alert Diver; Waddah Island Fingers. It’s an advanced site just outside Neah Bay and more frequently diveable than Duncan. Charismatic megafauna? Check. Abundant fish and polychromatic inverts? Check. Interesting bottomography? Checkmate. We wait until kelp buoys to the surface, and then we descend into its midst. We punch through a swarm of blue and black rockfish and head to the edge of a narrow ridge. Visibility is 30 feet, enough to truly appreciate the fertile gardens for Metridium anemones, which glow an eerie greenish white. I’m stalking a quillback rockfish that hovers over raspberry soft corals when my buddy points excitedly downslope. A serpentine shape slithers across the gorge. We power ahead attempting to intercept the 6-foot-long wolf eel, but we’re too late. He disappears into his den. Before I can curse, a lumpy head emerges, and with a gap-toothed grin the Muppet monster launches outward into my camera. I love wolf eels.

I’m even more enamored of giant pacific octopuses. At 80 feet we’re given a second major dose of luck when we stumble across a "GPO." This one is just a teenager, only 5 feet across. It’s on the prowl, probing cracks and crevices. Tasting the substrate with suckered arms, it appears to be hot on the trail of some hapless crab. Then it stands tall, blushes from brown to brick red, and fleshy fingers spring up from its chameleon-like skin. All-knowing eyes scan me up and down. If only I could connect with its alien intellect. If I had gills I’d spend forever down here in its presence, but current is building, and gas is running low. Reluctantly we turn about, and in the calm afforded by the slanting wall, we swim back upslope.