I started a new job a few months ago with a company based in San Rafael. I expect to travel to the area on occasion and would be interested in combining those trips with some diving. Where do you dive up north of SF? What type of diving?
I’m familiar with Monterey as I’ve dived that area a few times. That is an option as well.
The diving really starts in Sonoma County. I’d say pretty much at Fort Ross State Park. The beach there is accessible by car to drop off your gear but then you have to park up in the lot and take the trail down past the fort and down to the beach. It’s not a terribly long hike.
It’s a pretty good beach dive with lots of fish. There is a wreck in the cove (The Pomona) but it’s more or less a pile of rubble with a boiler and a big drive shaft and some plating. There’s no whellhouse structure to go inside, it’s all broken down.
The area is very rocky with a lot of underwater structure.
Going north up hwy 1 there is Stillwater Cove Regional Park. I like this spot, it’s an easy beach dive with lot’s of possibilities as far as what to see and how deep. I’ve hit about 75’ or more but I was way out there. This is where I do a lot of purple urchin removal work. There is also a lot of rocky structure. The whole north coast has a lot of rocky structure.
Going north from there you have Gerstle Cove state park which is a reserve. The purple urchins have pretty much destroyed that cove completely and not many people dive it anymore. It used to be absolutely beautiful to dive there because it was an untouched reserve with monster abalone to look at, but nothing can be removed or disturbed so it is illegal to do any urchin removal work and it shows.
There is also a lot of even better diving further north in Mendocino County which is far superior to anything in Monterey IMO. Partly because it is wild, pristine, and because we can hunt. Monterey to me is overrun.
There are some areas closer to Bodega Bay that we are exploring because they are closer to get to but they are not really official dive sites so I don’t talk about them yet. Some are also kind of dangerous too so I don’t advertise or talk about them.
That kind if gives a very simple overview. There is a lot more but it would be a very long write up.