Lawson Bluff

Lawson Bluff sits on the west side of Sucia Island, north of Orcas Island, and the wall there stands out for its structural detail: an expansive rock face pitted with overhangs, shelves, caves, and fissures. Diving depth runs from 70 to 100 feet. A dive light is strongly recommended to explore the pockets and crevices, which shelter Puget Sound king crabs of various sizes and tiger rockfish that hide deep in their lairs before emerging to investigate divers.

Sucia Island itself is a Washington State Marine Park, a land and mooring designation that shapes the surface experience for boaters and campers passing through the area but does not close the surrounding water to fishing. The site's identity underwater is a matter of geology and cold-water invertebrate life, not human history above the shoreline.

An overhang- and cave-pitted rock wall places Lawson Bluff squarely in the rocky reef biome. The surrounding water lacks the kelp cover documented at west-side San Juan Island shore dives. Scuba is the sole activity, aided by the recommended dive light. Currents typically flow southward on ebb tides, and divers should stick to minor ebbs at 1.0 knot maximum; strong exchanges can produce 1.5 to 2 knots of surface current along the wall.

Access is boat only, with no shore option. Live-boat operation is preferred at the wall, and the nearest boat launch is Washington Park in Anacortes, roughly 22 miles east. Standard Marine Area 7 rules govern the water: rockfish retention is prohibited across Marine Areas 6 through 13, lingcod spearfishing runs May 21 to June 15 with a 36-inch maximum and a daily limit of 1 fish, and cabezon is open May 1 to November 30 at an 18-inch minimum with the same daily limit. WDFW enforces.