Puget Sound · United States · Artificial reef · Reef
Misery Point Reef
Old Hood Canal Bridge slabs and I-beams turned into fish habitat
Area photo: Visitor7 · CC BY-SA 3.0
An artificial reef in Hood Canal close to Seabeck, built when the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife sank concrete slabs and steel I-beams from the old Hood Canal Bridge to create fish habitat. The shallow end lies about 14 m down (45 ft) and the field extends to 24 m (80 ft), holding lingcod, cabezon, rockfish, perch and greenling over structure furred with plumose anemones.
Where it is and how deep
47.6395° N, 122.8285° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The reef is bridge debris, not a natural rock pile, and that shapes the dive. Huge grey concrete slabs and steel I-beams from the old Hood Canal Bridge lie on the bottom with the shallow end of the field at about 14 m (45 ft), and the structure extends to 24 m (80 ft), so the profile deepens as you work outward. Get a heading before you leave the material and treat the edge of the field as your turn point.
Move slab to slab. Lingcod, cabezon and rockfish use the structure, with perch and greenling around it, and the concrete and steel carry plumose anemones, sea cucumbers and sea stars — that invertebrate growth is what turns a debris field into something worth photographing. Work the deep end of the reef early and finish shallow at the 14-metre edge (45 feet) rather than pushing deep late in the dive.
Background
Misery Point Reef is a made structure. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife sank debris here to build fish habitat and create a fishing reef, and the material came from the old Hood Canal Bridge — huge grey concrete slabs and steel I-beams, lying between 45 and 80 feet (up to 24 m) of water off the point near Seabeck. What divers swim over is a piece of Hood Canal's own road link, put back into the water it used to cross.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime |
Season follows Puget Sound: Oct–Mar gives the clearest water once the plankton dies back; summer blooms can cut visibility to a few metres.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Misery Point Reef?+
The shallow end of the reef lies about 14 m down (45 ft) and the field extends to 80 feet, roughly 13.7 to 24.4 metres, so it is a mid-range dive that needs cold-water experience and careful gas planning at the deep end.
What is Misery Point Reef made of?+
Huge grey concrete slabs and steel I-beams from the old Hood Canal Bridge, sunk by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to create fish habitat and a fishing reef.
Sources
- Diving in the United States — Wikivoyage
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Artificial reef
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Wolf eels in the rock on the north and south walls
Wreck
A 21-metre wooden hull (70 feet) under a field of white plumose anemones
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