Sea Ranch diving???

[Callasrn]

Hi there everyone!
I am going to Sea Ranch in April. I am a pretty new diver, 25 dives out of which about 18 in Monterey. Although I LOVE diving, it scares me quite a bit and I want to explore the ocean in the most optimal conditions. My dive buddy is the same, we are two nurses that want to be diving for a long time, have nothing to prove and just wanna see pretty stuff. We do shore diving and would love to dive a bit of the North Coast. Can you please tell me a bit about 3 places I found that sound ok for our level of experience. Maker richer State Park, Russian Gulch St Pk and Van Damme St Pk?
Are they reasonable choices? How is visibility at the end of April usually. Are the big winter swells kind off better at that time? Also where can I get some topography maps to create a safe dive plan? Thank you so much! I have to say I have been reading some of the posts around here and I found a wealth of information from people that give a damn about the enviroment, safety and each other. It's encouraging in this crazy world of ours to find a community like the diving community which I look forward to be part off, for the rest of my life!
Happy Safe Diving!

 

[Peter_C]

Maker richer State Park

Do you MacKerricher State Park, just North of Fort Bragg?
If there it is quite exposed to the open ocean, but I understand there are a few spots to enter on calm days. It is quite a hike though. I do know folks who will also pack their gear down to Glass Beach and enter there, but it is a long hike in scuba gear. Free divers of course have it much easier and go many places we can not with scuba gear.

Russian Gulch is a great dive site. We have been diving there for years. It is a long surface swim though, but is always calm inside the cove. Our dive Club North Coast Divers has a trip planned there the first weekend of April. http://www.thenorthcoastdivers.org/forum/index.php?topic=2657.0 (Guess we need to get around to filling out more information.) Poke around the website and you will find we do club dives once a month around the area. Many of us are from the Sonoma County area, and dive fairly routinely. There are no dues or required meetings, it is just a website meant to bring divers together in the ocean or occasionally lakes and rivers.

Van Damme is one of the most popular dive sites in Mendocino, but mostly for ab diving. Enty is super easy, and it is well protected. Unfortunately it is often a shallow dive with not too much to see. having long surface swims to get out further and deeper than 25ft

Those three sites are quite far from Sea Ranch and best done from the Fort Bragg-Van Damme Area.

I have not personally dove around Sea Ranch yet, but plan to get some dives up there this year. I know it is popular with ab divers, but that is the extent of my knowledge.

Have you tried Sonoma County dives sites like Gerstle Cove, Fort Ross, Still Water, etc. yet? We dive these sites fairly regularly. February 2nd is our club dive at Timber Cove Resort. http://www.thenorthcoastdivers.org/forum/index.php?topic=2639.0

Sounds like you also need to be alerted to Scuba Shore Diving Site Listing for: California North, USA West

Are you familiar with the marine forecasts and how to interpret them?

 

[Callasrn]

Thank you for your info! It kind of gives me an idea. Unfortunately I am coming at the end of April. I will try Russian gulch! Hopefully it will be ok viz. I am not too picky. To me if I see some nudis and a couple of anemones I am a happy camper. You add some seals and I am thrilled. When I last dove in Hawaii I saw quite a few dolphins and they started swimming around us, I thought it was the most magical moment of my life. Zany way, I hope you have a good dive when you go next, I will check out the link you sent to me!

 

[Bob DBF]

To be perfectly clear, Peter_C was referencing Russian Gulch, Mendocino County not Russian Gulch, Sonoma County where I have done some freediving but wouldn't drag a tank out there on a bet.

Sea Ranch is exposed to open ocean which is pretty to look at but affords little protection for entrance and exit should conditions change while you dive.


Have fun

Bob
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I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

 

[Jim See]

Hi Callasrn,

I have only dove Sea Ranch once so far. There are 3 (maybe more) public access points that are as I understand a very long hike with gear. That won't matter for you as you will be given permits for parking and now each person.
I do not remember the exact location I dove but I can find out for you. Entry in exit was very easy in a protected area for calm seas. I do remember a very short 3-5 minute flat walk in gear.

Russian Gulch is by far my favorite shore dive so far in Mendocino so far.
Have you thought at all about diving the Salt Point area in Sonoma County? Gerstle Cove is only 10-15 minute drive from Sea Ranch. Russian Gulch in Mendo is over an hour each way.

Gerstle is a very very small marine reserve, with a lot to see in the cove, there are tons of starfish, Anenomes, Nudis, Greenlings, Sculpins, Abalone, and Ling Cod to name a few.
A couple of things about Gerstle, you do have to back down a steep road to drop of gear and park above. The "beach" is all boulders so the higher the tide the better for entry and exits however the tide doesn't stop any of us.
I often spot whales at surface intervals as well, they tend to migrate pretty close to the point.

Fort Ross and Stillwater cove are also good protected shore dives.

Oh yeah Vis is a hard one to predict in Sonoma county 10-15' is pretty average. Sometimes we have even less and I've seen it over 50' you never know.

As far as your question about conditions, in April the thing that comes up the most in Mendo and Sonoma is Wind! High winds will wipe out the sites in Sea Ranch.
The most protected site in Sonoma is Fort Ross and in Mendo it is Van Damme and Russian Gulch.

If you post on the link Peter C posted above as your trip gets closer, My wife and I or someone else maybe able to join you at any one of those locations for a dive.

Either way enjoy the diving!

 

[Callasrn]

Thanks a lot Jim, sounds great and I think I will try the ones you suggested. The one entrance at Sea Ranch you were talking about I remember seeing something in a posting for a rental there and it looked like a tiny beach cove surrounded by trees and looked like a calm protected entrance. I will post something as I get nearer to the time and it would be great if you could join us with your wife.
Luca