New Diver in Humboldt County California

[GreenMud]

Good Morning!!

I recently moved to Eureka CA and have been diving the bay waters for the last month and a half. I have witnessed some very interesting visibility conditions, sea life and general lack of interest from most if not all land folk!

Anyone interested in joining in the fun? Anyone know of quick spots for skin diving or interesting locations to scuba within the bay? I am very aware of tidal risks, boat traffic and general lack of visibility.

Looking for buddies, community and sharing of this amazing place that often gets overlooked!

Sincerely!
Austin!

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hi Austin, welcome to Scubaboard!
If you are willing to come down to Mendocino I’d join you, but Eureka’s about 4 hours away and a bit too far for me to go.
I’ve worked up at Woodley Island Marina in the past and my client lived in Trinidad. I hear Trinidad Bay has some good diving, it looked like it might anyway. Rocky with lingcod and probably a lot of crabs ?
I’ve never been underwater that far up. Far as I’ve gone is Shelter Cove.

 

[northcoastscubabumps]

Hi GreenMud,

Go to Humboldt Skindivers on Facebook to connect with local divers. There's an active free diving (spear fishing) community up here, less so for scuba. Cresent City (80 miles north) has a more active scuba community, mostly because the nearby Smith river has a bunch of great diving holes open much of the year. In the ocean, I scuba in Trinidad, others like the North Jetty, particularly towards the Coast Guard station. The South Jetty gets divers too.

A warning. I dove Monterey-Carmel many times in good and bad conditions, and rarely felt I was in danger. This is not true in the oceans of Humboldt and Del Norte counties. This is intermediate-to-advanced cold water diving. It compares to diving Monastery in Carmel and goes up from there to much harder. The safe scuba season is short. The tides are dangerous, safe only during specific windows. All the little inlets have very strong outbound currents. Learn and apply your best diving skills to stay safe. Not trying to scare you off, just indicating you must rise to the occasion.

About the visibilty. You'll hear people say it's terrible. I always ask, compared to what. A good day up here is 10-15 feet, but if your navigation skills are good, 5 feet is quite workable until you get to the deeper, clearer water. Even with the sea urchin barrens and low visibility, the sea life is quite beautiful, like the Metridium patch along the Trinidad harbor wall, and the sea life is also kind of exotic for people used to Mendocino south.

Lastly, don't underestimate just how fun river scuba is. Moving here, I was surprised how much I like the rivers. Very low stress scuba. Some of the spots on the Smith are sunny and wide and deep and clear like the tropics. It's also not boring like lake diving, plenty to see all around you, and river water is a warm bath compared to the ocean.