Long Island Wall

Long Island Wall runs along the west side of Long Island, immediately southwest of Lopez Island, and drops as a sheer heavily encrusted rock face into San Juan Channel. The wall's edge drops past 140 feet, with sounder readings around 170 feet, and the recreational diving range is 70 to 110 feet. Holes, overhangs, and crevices pit the face along its length. The signature feature is a pair of large strawberry anemone colonies at the south end of the wall, running from roughly 50 feet down to 85 feet.

The wall's identity underwater is invertebrate life at scale. Beyond the strawberry anemone colonies, juvenile and adult Puget Sound king crabs use the crevices, and lingcod and nudibranchs work the structure. No terrestrial history of the tiny island appears in the diving record; the site is known for what covers the rock, not for anything above the waterline.

Sheer wall and heavy encrustation put Long Island Wall squarely in the rocky reef biome; no kelp grows along its face. Scuba is the sole activity, and the color and density of the anemone colonies pull divers back to the south end. Strong tidal flow moves through San Juan Channel, and divers should work the wall only on flooding current with a maximum flood of 2.0 knots or less. Current intensifies significantly toward the south end, and ebb tides at this site should be avoided.

Access is boat only, with no shore option, and the wall is a live-boat operation. The nearest boat launch is Cornet Bay State Park on Whidbey Island, roughly 16 miles southeast, and charter boats out of Anacortes are the practical way to reach the site. No site-specific marine protected area covers the water, so standard Marine Area 7 rules govern: 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.