One of my favorite local tech dives is the PB4Y Privateer in Lake Washington, which I affectionately call just “the bomber”. It sits in roughly 150′ and is only about a 15-17 minute scooter ride from Warren G Magnuson Park.
This is NOT a tech-reational dive, nor one I’d do on deep air. The lake is dark, not like a night dive… like I put a bag over your head. This tends to increase narcosis greatly 🙂
Additionally the “bottom” of the lake is very fine grained silt. If you manage to kick it up (or lawn dart into it from a boat), plan on the silt cloud obscuring visibility for quite some time (easily an hour +).
The entrance is just North of the boat ramp (the next turn in the road).
PB4Y Shore Diving EntranceHere is a typical dive profile diving the wreck from shore. This is a CCR profile, on doubles I would dive 21/35 + 50% for deco.
PB4Y Dive ProfileThere is a ton of great info and videos available from local wreck divers on the PB4Y:
- Puget Sound Divers Side Scan Sonar Images and Video
- DCS Films Pics and Video (Maritime Documentation Society, MDS)
- Great Info and Pics from Emerald Sea Photography
- Other Videos: Seainggreen, Laura James
As always with any dives: be safe, be prepared and don’t dive beyond your limits.
In case you’re wondering, and have a boat, the GPS coordinates for this wreck are:
47°40’34.4″N 122°14’28.4″W