The Bodega Bay, CA jetties are cool, there’s an inner jetty and an outer jetty. Each one is accessible from a different land mass. The outer one generally has less people crawling all over it, fishing, crabbing, etc. no one dives it so it’s one of those off the radar places. Lot’s of big lingcod and lot’s of big rock crabs on the outer jetty. The inner jetty on the Doran Park side is a waste of time. There are juvenile California sea lions that will buzz you on the inside of the outer jetty. Just don’t get caught diving on the inside of the jetties by the coast guard if they happen to be cruising by. They will get their panties all up in a wad over divers in the channel. I stay down the whole time so nobody knows I’m there. There is no law that says a person can’t dive along the jetties. I’m along the jetty wall down in the boulders away from all the boat traffic so I don’t know why they get so weird about it.
The docks at Spud Point Marina in Bodega Bay is another spot nobody would consider. I’ve dived under the docks cruising along under the walkways upside down. After a while you get the sense that you are right side up and your bubbles are going down, kinda trippy.
There are lots of sponges, worms, anemones, mussels, even small abalone and some scallops.
I’ve also seen nudibranchs. Just remember that right is left and vice versa. It’s easy to get confused.
People walk along the docks and have no clue you are right underneath them. I scared the crap out of a lady once when I suddenly came out from under the dock and surfaced right next to her. Ha ha, sorry! The big bull sea lions weighing 900 lbs coming up checking you out can be interesting and a little intimidating, but I’ve never been harassed.