Twanoh State Park

Twanoh State Park sits at the Great Bend of Hood Canal, about 1.5 miles east of Union, where the fjord swings sharply northeast toward Belfair. The 188-acre marine park fronts a long sandy delta beach with a shallow gradual slope, and divers reach about 40 feet on the far side of the roped swimming area, with eelgrass through the shallows in between.

The park's name comes from a Skokomish Tribe word, and the Civilian Conservation Corps built out the shoreline facilities during the 1930s. Washington State Parks lists the saltwater beach here as one of the warmest in the state park system, a product of the shallow gradient at the head of the fjord that lets summer sun push surface temperatures above the mid-canal average.

Eelgrass through the shallow flats gives the site its seagrass biome, and tube-dwelling anemones documented across those flats round out the macro appeal. Scuba training and snorkeling both work well in the gentle current, and the roped swim area at the beach requires a dive flag past the ropes for divers heading into the open channel. The site's material hazard is late-summer hypoxia: Twanoh sits inside the reach of southern Hood Canal that regularly turns low-oxygen from August through October, and bottom water can drop below 2 milligrams per liter in bad years. Divers plan around ORCA buoy readings and WDFW dissolved-oxygen reports during that window.

Parking is a paved state-park lot with restrooms and showers near the campground, and a Discover Pass is required ($10 daily or $45 annual). The single watercraft launch and 100-foot dock require an additional $7 daily launch permit on top of the pass. Take of bottomfish, forage fish, and Pacific halibut is prohibited across Marine Area 12 year-round by WDFW; salmon and shellfish seasons follow the marine-area schedule with the correct license.