{"id":3529,"date":"2025-05-22T00:45:32","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T00:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/?p=3529"},"modified":"2025-06-06T14:49:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T14:49:07","slug":"fox-island-dive-sites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/2025\/05\/22\/fox-island-dive-sites\/","title":{"rendered":"Fox Island Dive Sites"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fox Island has four well-known dive sites:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Fox Island Bridge<\/li>\n
  2. Z’s Reef<\/li>\n
  3. East Wall<\/li>\n
  4. West Wall<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Map showing all 4 sites from the top clockwise. Fox Island Bridge to the N, Z’s Reef to the NE, and East and West wall are the S most on their respective sides of the island.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Tides and Currents<\/h3>\n

    Due to the narrow channel between Fox Island and the Kitsap Peninsula (the Hale Passage near Artondale), tidal currents rip through at a good clip. Watch your tide & current tables and time your dive accordingly.<\/p>\n

    In case you have tide tables but don’t have current tables…<\/p>\n

    As of 2025, in the Hale Passage low tide more or less matches the low (flooding) slack. That is, the rising slack current (from ebb to flood) is 5-30 minutes after low tide. But you probably want to dive at high tide, not low tide. High tide lags the high (ebbing) slack. That is, the falling slack current (from flood to ebb) is between 2 and 2.5 hours before high tide. At high tide, the ebb current is already well established.<\/p>\n

    1. Fox Island Bridge<\/h3>\n

    This is at the South (Fox Island) side of the bridge. There is open free parking. This site is not listed as a marine preserve and is open to fishing.<\/p>\n

    2. Z’s Reef<\/h3>\n

    This site is only accessible by boat, because the shore along the reef is entirely privately owned. Also, it’s along Hale’s passage so watch your tides & currents. Z’s Reef is designated as a marine preserve by the WA State fishing regulations, so there is no fishing or taking of marine life of any kind.<\/p>\n

    Drop in from a boat at the slack current about 2 hours before high tide. The shore drops off moderately steep, and 60′ depth is not far from shore. The wall can be hard to find because visibility is often 10′ or less.<\/p>\n

    3. East Wall<\/h3>\n

    This site is at the SE end of Fox Island, at the Fox Island Fishing Pier park. Given the name, one can surmise that this is not a marine preserve – fishing is allowed, both pole and spear. The pier is quite high with no access to the water.<\/p>\n

    Drive in; the site is usually not crowded and there is plenty of parking. There are guardrailed paths down to the pier – do not follow them. Instead, just after entering the park look to your right. Across the grass near the restrooms there’s a small green sign, easy to miss, that says, “Beach Access”. This goes down stairs then turns left into a dirt path that leads down to the beach.<\/p>\n

    The path to the shore is about 150 yards and drops 75 feet in elevation, so if you’re SCUBA diving you might want to make 2 trips or use a cart.<\/p>\n

    The beach is gravel with an easy entry & exit. This photo from the pier shows where the footpath reaches the beach:<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Here’s the view from the beach after walking down the footpath:<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    As of 2025, magnetic north points 15.5* east of true north, and the shoreline runs nearly direct magnetic north to south.<\/p>\n

    This site is at the SE entrance to Hale’s Passage, so the tidal currents can be strong. Watch your tables and time your dive accordingly, just before the slack when the tide reverses. If you have tide tables but not current tables, this is about 2.5 hours before high tide. When the tidal current reverses, there is no noticeable slack or pause. It simply reverses direction like flicking a switch. I like to start my dive about 20 minutes before the slack so it reverses while I’m in the water.<\/p>\n

    Note<\/strong>: when looking up \"Hale's Passage\" on tide and current tables know that there are 2 of them in the Puget Sound area. One is in the North near Lummi Island, the other is here in the South near Artondale. Make sure you have the right one!<\/pre>\n
    The shore drops off slowly at first, then quickly gets steeper, so you can descend quite close to shore. When I dove this site I didn’t find an actual wall, but some giant rocks from about 30 to 65 feet deep. Visibility in summer is limited, 15-20 feet on a good day. I didn’t see a lot of fish, but I did see dungeness crabs, sea stars, jellyfish, a playful seal, and other critters.<\/p>\n
    4. West Wall<\/h3>\n
    This site is on the W shore of Fox Island at the end of Kamus drive. As you drive in you’ll see a yellow sign saying “no turnaround”. From there, it’s about 0.3 miles to the shore and a steep descent. Don’t park here, but continue driving down the road.<\/p>\n
    Near the end of the road there’s a gravel area at the dead-end of the road that looks like a parking lot, but is posted “no parking”. Just 100 feet or so up the road from this, there are wide spots in the road with room to park, if nobody else is there.<\/p>\n
    The shore is aligned approximately 135* to 315* compass (magnetic) heading, or SE to NW. Looking straight out from shore is about 225* or SW. As of May 2025 there are 5 buoys; 3 to the right and 2 to the left. Swim straight out to the buoys and descend. Bear left (south) as that is where you’ll find the wall.<\/p>\n
    This site is exposed to more open water, not a narrow channel, and is consequently less subject to strong tidal currents. High slack is always a good time to dive, but you have more timing flexibility at this site than at the others.<\/p>\n
    View from the shore in May 2025:<\/p>\n
    \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    Fox Island has four well-known dive sites: Fox Island Bridge Z’s Reef East Wall West Wall Map showing all 4 sites from the top clockwise. Fox Island Bridge to the N, Z’s Reef to the NE, and East and West wall are the S most on their respective sides of the island. Tides and Currents … Continue reading Fox Island Dive Sites<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diving"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3529"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3550,"href":"https:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3529\/revisions\/3550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mclements.net\/blogWP\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}