Puget Sound, the area around The Boss

Puget Sound · United States · Wreck

The Boss

A 21-metre wooden hull (70 feet) under a field of white plumose anemones

Area photo: Visitor7 · CC BY-SA 3.0

A 21-metre wooden shipwreck (70 feet) in Blakely Harbor near Bainbridge Island, reached by boat and marked by a PADI dive buoy that local divers maintain. The hull sits in about 15 m of water (50 ft) and is unmistakable once you are on it: the timbers are covered in a field of white plumose anemones.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of The Boss: typical dive to 15 m (to 50 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit15 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

47.5929° N, 122.4996° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.

The dive

This is a buoy dive. The marker sits at about the midpoint of the shoreline, over about 15 m of water (50 ft), so the descent is a straightforward line down rather than a hunt across the bottom. Follow the line to the hull and take your bearings on the wreck before you leave it, because the buoy line is what you are coming back to at the end of the dive.

The hull is the dive: seventy feet of wooden vessel, covered so completely in white plumose anemones that the anemone field is how divers recognise it. Work the length of the hull, then come back along the other side rather than pushing off into open bottom, and follow the buoy line back up when the plan is done.

The wreck

Vessel
The Boss
Type
Wooden vessel, about 70 feet
Length
21 m (69 ft)
Cause
Not published; no account of the vessel's loss was found in the sources that list the wreck
Lies
Hull in about 15 m of water (50 ft), covered in a field of white plumose anemones and marked by a PADI dive buoy

Marine life and season

The sources we used don't single out particular species here.

Month-by-month season rating for The Boss
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
PrimePrimeGoodGoodFairFairFairGoodGoodPrimePrimePrime

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 The Boss wreck?+

The hull lies in about 50 feet of water, roughly 15 metres, so the wreck sits within normal recreational range and gives a reasonable bottom time on a single tank.

Can you dive The Boss from shore?+

No. It is a boat dive in Blakely Harbor near Bainbridge Island, and a PADI dive buoy maintained by local divers marks the position.

Sources

  1. Diving in the United States — Wikivoyage
  2. Bainbridge Island — Wikivoyage

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