mendocino diving questions

[scubajim311]

My wife and i are going to be in mendocino for a few days in may, i would like to do some diving over there. We've dove mostly monterey at breakwater, and mcabee, so were still beginners. Is there any nice beginner diving in mendocino area? thanks, james

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

You could go off the beach at Vandamme (Little River) It's a few miles south on the highway from Mendo. The surface swim is kinda long but the diving's pretty good.

I don't know how much into goat trail diving you are into, but the next place I would suggest would be Mendocino headlands. Drive out to the far point out from the town of mendo and you will see a cove that has a narrow chute out to the ocean. You want to get down to this cove and go down about in that narrow area which will be about 40 feet deep. You will find an old pipe about 16" in diameter laying on the bottom. It is an old sewer pipe but no longer used. Follow this pipe out to the flats and it will end up in about 60 feet. There are some really big cabezon to see in the narrow gorge section of this dive.

Russian Gulch is another shore dive spot. It's a state park so you'll have to pay a fee. Park in the lot closest to the where the hwy 1 bridge goes over the cove. Gear up and go in off the beach. It's really protected but there will also be a pretty long surface swim out to where the reefs start. Stick to the right side (north side) It's a very good dive if you can get out far enough. Lot's of octopus and assorted rockfish to look at.

Other than that you really need a boat or kayak to get to better diving. But the Mendocino area in my opinion has the best diving on the North Coast. It's very Point Lobos-ish.

 

[scubajim311]

thanks for the suggestions, those places look really nice, i think we might try van damme.

 

[matthewjen]

Van damme can be great. We just got back this afternoon from 6 days of camping/diving. Some were awesome dives some were typical northcoast dives with8-10 ft vis but the good ones are great.diving is better almost everywhere with a boat but thier is plenty beginner type diving at van damme or russian gulch. its all about vis and swell and wave conditions sometimes you just get lucky.

 

[cmburch]

Due to their popularity, there may be more boat traffic in these areas on weekends and low tides for abalone diving. Be careful if SCUBA diving from shore.