Fort Bragg/Mendocino Diving

[Eric Sedletzky]

Ft Bragg CA was an army garrison from 1855–1867 to deal with the indians in the area, and the town that developed around it kept the name.

Ft Bragg NC base was established in 1918.

Both were named after General Braxton Bragg.

So our Ft. Bragg is the REAL Ft. Bragg.
It’s older.

 

[BWes]

Wow, many great memories diving Albion and Ft Bragg when I was in high School (last century). I dove with the Sea Knights dive club out of Sacramento. We would make week long trips to the area for free diving as it was illegal to take abalone with tanks. Glad to hear its still a great place to dive.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

40 years as a diver and I've never even heard of this place. Sounds awesome.

 

[BWes]

Ok, time to bore you with an old dive story. I did my open water test for my Sport Diver NAUI cert at Albion. My instructor and I spent the night before the dive sleeping on picnic benches with a tarp pulled over ourselves. It was foggy, damp, cold and we didn't get much sleep. The next morning we suited up and swam out into the bay. There was a heavy surge with about 3 ft visibility. Multiple times we would lose sight of each other and have to surface to link up. Luckily I had my pole spear with me as the surge drove me toward walls covered in sea urchin. I would use the pole spear to vault over the walls with feet to spare. After as few of these events the instructor declared me a Sport Diver and suggested that we go get a hot meal. A great adventure and most memorable time.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

So it's an acquired taste?

 

[Jeff_O]

I only had to deal with max 3 ft breakers. I watched for the largest set and then again waited til it went somewhat calm and scrambled doing serpentine walk backward with fins on. Any breakers I could easily turn side ways and crouch for stability till they passed. Just when I was deep enough and bigger breaker was upon me, I just dove under. My mask and snorkel around neck to the side till I got short surface swim to rock wall to see neat stuff. Only I keep a few feet between me and the wall, keeping every once in a while checking for on coming waves. I was in a partial lee to the swell. There really was no wind, but further out maybe. I have in the past used a 4/5 wetsuit and forced to dive w/o weights and got better view of fish and invertebrates. Though I cool off too soon with that setup. Drysuit is really the way. That wetsuit I use for windsurfing. I will be keeping an eye out for clearing winds after the rain. Epic days in have been had on Sacramento River Delta. Hey, remember Humfrey the Whale visiting up at Rio Vista. I saw a monument for Humfrey over there. Fresh water is not good for whales so good thing he got back out under the GG Bridge.

 

[Jeff_O]

Wow, many great memories diving Albion and Ft Bragg when I was in high School (last century). I dove with the Sea Knights dive club out of Sacramento. We would make week long trips to the area for free diving as it was illegal to take abalone with tanks. Glad to hear its still a great place to dive.

Back in the 90's spent time camping at Albion. To be freshly rested after a night with fog horn going most the night/morning was something. I understand some places do need to use the fog horns anymore but that was hear say. Gongs I have used to navigate to dive sites in the past, keep them.

 

[Akimbo]

We are getting our first big rain storm of the season today — Mendocino is about 7 miles/8km south of Ft Bragg. Hope it doesn't hurt the late grape harvest at the Anderson Valley vineyards.

Ft Bragg is about a 3¼ hour drive north of San Francisco, about 165 miles/265km. There are a lot of vineyards (wine tasting) north of Santa Rosa and a nice drive through the Redwood forest after Philo.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

40 years as a diver and I've never even heard of this place. Sounds awesome.

The North Coast (north if San Francisco) is not really a place that the average diver would go. In other words, it’s not really a dive vacation spot, unless your were an abalone diver then it was considered a mecca. But abalone has been closed now for 6 years and an entire industry went away with it, including one of our most beloved dive shops Sub Surface Progression.
However, the scuba diving can be really fantastic if you know where to go. It’s wall country for sure with pinnacles, spires, canyons, huge rock formations, crevices, swim throughs, etc. Most people that scuba dive up there are hunting. The game and sea life is abundant with big lingcod, a large variety of rockfish, scallops, crabs, and of course urchins, lots of urchins. The place would be what I call a real adventurers paradise. People who dive here need to have some experience in cold water, seasoned vets that can handle a lot of gear, thick suits (or drysuits) a healthy ocean. It’s not for the faint of heart or someone who just got certified in the warm calm waters of the tropics. I have to be honest.
There are no boat charters now, there used to be a long time ago but diving is very seasonal and dive tourism is not enough to sustain a venture.
I had a boat from 2000 to 2010 and mapped a lot of the area. There is a stretch between Albion and Little River (Vandamme) that is about the best pinnacle sheer wall country that I’ve found up in that area. There are also some pretty impressive sheer walls with undercuts just south of Albion too.
That whole stretch of coastline, about 60 miles, is a real gem. The problem is it’s isolated, there are no dive services (shops) so we have to bring everything including all our tanks, it’s cold and it can get rough. But when it’s nice it’s really nice.
I had an old friend just come up from LA and he brought a first timer up with him to the big bad “forbidden” north. The dude was blown away with the diving. He said they have nothing like it in Southern California.
A lot of us use kayaks but an inflatable would be great to have. That would get you to any of the best offshore diving. There is plenty of great shore diving too. I know people who use scooters to get out to some of the fringing reefs and walls from shore.

 

[Jeff_O]

I had done my snorkeling at the calm before the storm. By midnight rain just had started. Yes it was windy before that, but places I look at to snorkel were looking the best even with the wind last couple of days. It was like glass. Other times, there is a blow hole that shakes the ground with thunder when swell is big. The swell by this rock formation, I keep about 25 feet from as it goes in and a portion of it reflects back with a spray jet of water high above and loud rumble. It really had me worried to be near initially but it only just has a little surge and the crest lifts you up. The egrees I take seriously all the time. I may spend 20 minutes checking out wave sets. A dive master had impressed me with a time he noticed an hour between sets that went from mostly calm to 6 foot wave followed by another couple successively smaller. Then the wait was like an hour later repeating. I went under a 12 footer just in my windsurfing gear when wind shadow egress and unannounced timing happened. Clenching my mouth shut at the right time was something learned quick. I was tired out seriously after getting up on the beach but no injury at all. My sail a week later ripped unexpectedly for no reason, but then I thought of the material had been degraded from that wave pumuling. Some areas and times are good for various sports, but for instances some time, just good to look at. Forgot, when I reached the beach another windsurfer also went though the same and got his rig set up and sailed back out again. I just had finished and was quite surprised he had the energy to go back out.