Staying Home Sucks, home
Along Birch Bay Drive
Birch Bay, the nearest town, 12 km away. Photo: Robert Ashworth from Bellingham, WA., USA, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons

Alden Bank

Dive site · United States

Advanced divers and up

Is it worth the trip?

64Good out of 100 for your dates

Home sucks

4 days tie for best

Each day of your trip, out of 100

Tue 3 · 64 out of 100

Sea
0.0 mflat
Wind
2 kn
Gusts
4kn
Air
10°C

Wed 4 · 64 out of 100

Sea
0.0 mflat
Wind
2 kn
Gusts
3kn
Air
12°C

Thu 5 · 62 out of 100

Sea
0.1 mflat
Wind
9 kn
Gusts
11kn
Air
12°C

Fri 6 · 61 out of 100

Sea
0.1 mflat
Wind
11 kn
Gusts
18knboats in
Air
12°C

Sat 7 · 64 out of 100

Sea
0.0 mflat
Wind
3 kn
Gusts
6kn
Air
11°C

Sun 8 · 63 out of 100

Sea
0.1 mflat
Wind
7 kn
Gusts
14knboats in
Air
12°C

Mon 9 · 64 out of 100

Sea
0.0 mflat
Wind
4 kn
Gusts
9kn
Air
12°C

Tap a day for sea, wind and water. Full forecast

Forecast: next 10 days

Full forecast
  1. Mon 265, good
  2. Tue 364, good
  3. Wed 464, good
  4. Thu 562, good
  5. Fri 661, good
  6. Sat 764, good
  7. Sun 863, good
  8. Mon 964, good
  9. Tue 1024, poor
  10. Wed 1126, poor

The site in five facts

  • Down to 18 mits deepest
  • From a boathow you get in
  • Advancedand up
  • Water 9 °Cdrysuit
  • Faces Wswell from there reaches it

Full forecast

every day, every number

The score doesn't know currents, the visibility on the day or your certification.

Suits Advanced divers and up, as a dive guide states it. Scored for Advanced divers.

Sea and wind forecast and score for each day at Alden Bank
DayScoreSeaWindGustsAir
Mon 2Nov65, good0.0 mflat0 kn4kn9°C
Tue 3Nov64, good0.0 mflat2 kn4kn10°C
Wed 4Nov64, good0.0 mflat2 kn3kn12°C
Thu 5Nov62, good0.1 mflat9 kn11kn12°C
Fri 6Nov61, good0.1 mflat11 kn18knboats in12°C
Sat 7Nov64, good0.0 mflat3 kn6kn11°C
Sun 8Nov63, good0.1 mflat7 kn14knboats in12°C
Mon 9Nov64, good0.0 mflat4 kn9kn12°C
Tue 10Nov24, poor0.4 m18 kn29knboats in12°C
Wed 11Nov26, poor0.4 m19 kn28knboats in10°C

Sea is the waves near the site, in metres; wind and gusts in knots. "Boats in": gusts that keep dive boats in. More

Tide

  • Mon 2 NovLow 01:29 −1.2 mHigh 09:39 +0.4 mLow 14:25 −0.0 mHigh 18:34 +0.4 m
  • Tue 3 NovLow 02:37 −1.0 mHigh 09:41 +0.5 mLow 15:32 −0.4 mHigh 20:31 +0.3 m
  • Wed 4 NovLow 03:34 −0.9 mHigh 09:56 +0.6 mLow 16:26 −0.8 mHigh 22:14 +0.4 m

Local clock times; heights about mean sea level. On open coasts the times are usually within a quarter of an hour; in bays, estuaries and on the Gulf of Mexico they can be an hour or more out. Slack water, the safest time to dive where there is current, is about half an hour either side of each high and low. Tide: EOT20 global ocean tide model, Hart-Davis et al. 2021, DGFI-TUM (doi:10.17882/79489), CC BY 4.0. Times and heights computed by us. A model, not a tide table: check a local table before you go.

Forecast updated . It refreshes every three hours. Forecast data: ECMWF, DWD, Météo-France and NOAA, served by Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0). Changed by us. Generated using E.U. Copernicus Marine Service Information.

Map

the site and its town

Each place wears its best day on these dates: green good, amber fair, pale red poor, as the key says.

The map needs JavaScript. Every place on it is listed on this page, and each place's page links to Google Maps.

One finger scrolls the page; two fingers move the map. Pins are our own positions. Map OpenFreeMap, © OpenMapTiles, data © OpenStreetMap contributors.

About

the place in full, sources, credits

About Alden Bank

A reef dive. It goes down to 18 m. You get in from a boat. It suits Advanced divers and up, as a dive guide states it. The coast faces W: swell from the W reaches it, and wind from the E blows out to sea. No dive centre within 10 km, the nearest 40 km away. The sea is about 7°C in February, its coldest month (drysuit), and 16°C in July, its warmest (7 mm wetsuit and hood). The town to stay in is Birch Bay.

  • What it is Reef.
  • How deep Down to 18 m.
  • Getting in From a boat.
  • Who it suits Suits Advanced divers and up, as a dive guide states it.
  • Dive centres No dive centre within 10 km, the nearest 40 km away.

Water about 9°C: drysuit. Typical sea temperature for the time of year, not a forecast.

Visibility under 5 m. Typical for the time of year, estimated from ten years of NASA satellite water clarity, not a forecast. Clearest in Jan, Feb and Nov (under 5 m).

The score is the conditions only: the journey, the price and the partners never change it (how we score, how we earn).

Rough cost (estimate): about US$1,050–US$1,920 each

about US$1,050–US$1,920 each · 6 nights, 2 sharing: flights, hire car, stay, food.

Our estimate from typical public prices, not a quote: check the real prices before you book (where they come from). Prices are about, in US Dollar (USD): our pound figures at the European Central Bank's rate of 30 October 2026.

How we worked it out 
Rough cost per person for this trip
WhatHow we worked it outEach
Flightsreturn ORD to YVR, estimated from distance and season, 3 airlines on the route, with a hold bagabout US$248–US$523
Hire car6 days, sharedabout US$154–US$255
Stay6 nights, a mid-range double, sharedabout US$301–US$502
Food7 days eating outabout US$342–US$636
Totalabout US$1,050–US$1,920

Guided dives are not priced yet: we have no sourced price, so it is not in it. Prices from public sources, checked in 2026.

Where to stay: Birch Bay

Ad Links marked Ad may pay us if you book. You pay the same, and they never change a score. How we earn

Closest

Birch Bay

about 25 min by car · 23 places to stay

about US$114/nightcountry average

See 23 places to stay in Birch Bay · Booking.com

About Birch Bay its beds, food and every spot near it

About US$114 a night is our estimate of the country's average 2-star double room that month: not each town's price, and not a quote. Drives are estimates. Prices are about, in US Dollar (USD): our pound figures at the European Central Bank's rate of 30 October 2026.

Getting there: about 9h

About 9h door to door from Chicago

Fly ORD → YVR, direct, then 1h 10m by road

An estimate, one way; the journey never changes the score.

In the water

Dive centres nearby

No dive centre mapped within 25 km.

Dive centres: © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Credits

What you might see

Too few records at this site itself, so these are the animals divers and surveys have recorded at other sites within 25 km in the last 15 years. A record says someone saw it there, not that you will.

  • Dungeness Crab Metacarcinus magister

    Seen in 139 records, mostly May to Oct.

  • Red Rock Crab Cancer productus

    Seen in 103 records.

  • Slender Crab Metacarcinus gracilis

    Seen in 61 records, mostly Apr to Aug.

Records: OBIS (Ocean Biodiversity Information System, IOC-UNESCO), from the datasets named here, CC0 and CC BY records only. Names: WoRMS, through OBIS; common names from Wikidata. Largest datasets here: debc8f44-f70f-4d30-821e-d3a705f62cfb; 28621175-b49c-4fbf-9f60-9b82d78b7b0c; 4b8b3141-28a0-46e7-8651-46a786827419; HGSS; Harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) counts and haulout locations in the Strait of Georgia, British Columbia coast. Credits

This week's visibility and the current no free forecast gives. Ask a dive centre before you book.

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