Dive Sites Near Sacramento?

[Eric Sedletzky]

Yeah......I can totally see why anyone have that perspective....... but the fact is that the SF Bay and Delta are just not that great.....and mostly due to very limited to zero vis and basically no coral / reef structures..

As an old hippie from Berkeley CA..... I did my original cert with the Original Steels and we still did our checkout OW dives in Monterey.

Now there is some great diving on the North Coast anywhere from Pt Reyes up to North of Eureka......but then there's that darn "Landlord issue" that will concern many. I grew up free diving for abs with my dad in the Fort Brag / Point Arena area and the diving was awesome. We avoided any dusk or dawn diving and never saw the Landlord but pretty sure that he/she probably saw us.

Also..... the Farallon Islands just 26 miles out the gate would be some pristine diving but once again.....it's a major pinniped rookery and that's where the "Landlord" lives and thrives..

I know a couple guys that dived the north tip of one of the Farallon islands and they said that they found a room dug out by hundreds of thousands of years of water sculpting that was so filled with dinner plate size scallops it was ridiculous. Made Arena Rock look like a weenie site for scallops.
Arena Rock IMO is another world class dive site more breathtaking than anything I can think of in California except maybe Begg Rock 100 miles offshore out of Southern California. Arena Rock has some insane structure!

I dived Point Reyes right at the point under the light house once and that was pretty electric!

There really is some fantastic diving here.

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

Totally argee that Arena Rock is a Holy Grail and lifetime experience dive!!! I've only dove it once back in 2005. The only other site that I would compare it to is Duncun Rock out of Neah Bay at the entrance to the straights.

 

[Thrutch]

Totally argee that Arena Rock is a Holy Grail and lifetime experience dive!!! I've only dove it once back in 2005. The only other site that I would compare it to is Duncun Rock out of Neah Bay at the entrance to the straights.

I keep reading about how awesome Arena Rock is. I've also read shore diving is not advised. How does one dive it?

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

I keep reading about how awesome Arena Rock is. I've also read shore diving is not advised. How does one dive it?

The one time that I dove Arena Rock we booked a guy up there with an 18ft Whaler and used the sling launch off the Arena pier...

 

[Patmol]

Really near Sacramento, as NorCalDM said, you’ve got Folsom Lake and Black Miners Bar below Folsom Lake. I never went to Folsom Lake, but multiple times at Black Miners Bar, and visibility there can be vary from quite good to bad, and there is really nothing interesting to see.
Says like that, it’s not a nice spot to dive, but it an easy spot, and if you want to test some gears, or just dive, it can be interesting. And you can dive with a 7mm without problem.
My wife and me are going there around once a month just to dive, or with other divers to clean the Lake Natoma.

You‘ve got the FishEyeScuba shop, which is really close to those spots (they are organizing dive at Folsom Lake or Black Miners Bar). Otherwise, in Sacramento, you also have DolphinScuba (they have a lot of rental tanks) and SacCityScuba.

 

[Peter_C]

When the salmon are held at the Feather River fish hatchery, you can park on Old Ferry Rd, and it is worth it to jump in the water and swim up to the low head dam. The amount of salmon and size of them makes it a magical dive in close proximity to the largest concentration of salmon one will see in California. I am sure a wetsuit would be okay as you just shorten the dive if cold. Plus max depth will be around 12ft.

As to cost of hotels around NorCal/MoCal there are campgrounds available and not many people camping in winter.

Gerstle Cove in Salt Point State Park is a nice dive site with fairly easy access, but it is over ankle busting rocks. Fort Ross is one of my favorite dive sites, but you must pack down to the beach and the vehicle must be parked above. Mendocino has tons of dive sites around. Vis tends to be worse than Monterey, but I've seen "unlimited" vis in Mendo before, when we had over 80ft+ of vis. Usually when there is good vis the water is cold after an upwelling.