We have farmed oysters (wild I don’t know yet, I’m going to find out), lots of fish, rock scallops that the meat/button can be the size if a hockey puck, Dungeness crab, red rock crab, millions of urchins (purples), lobsters down south in Socal not up here, mussels, regular clams, horse neck clams, puget sound king crabs (you have to freedive for those), and various other things including wolf eels, giant pacific octopuss.
The water stays about the same temp year around - cold. Notice I didn’t say freezing.. it does not warm up in the summer, but then the coast never freezes either. It will be 27 degrees here inland in the winter and the coast is in the 40’s. It will be 105 here in summer and the coast will be 75-80. It takes me a minimum of about 50 minutes to be at the coast in Bodega Bay and about 1.5 hours to be at great shore diving spots further north so not too far. On the days when it’s too hot in town I just blow out of here and go to the ocean.
Spring time is when the water probably gets the coldest when the inland valleys start to heat up which causes air to rise which then causes air flow and the wind on the coast starts to crank up. The oceanic winds cause upwelling and the deep water Alaskan cold current gets pumped up to the surface and the water can dip into the mid to high 40’s. It’s super clean and clear for about a few hours to a couple days then the sun will cause the nutrient rich deep water to bloom and vis drops and it will turn green. But that’s why there is so much life and so much stuff growing and filter feeders. The best vis I ever had up in Mendocino county was close to 100’ and it lasted about three hours. We just happened to be there at the exact time the vis soared. And the worst vis I’ve had was about 3’-4’. Less than that and I don’t bother.
The swell can come up here pretty gnarly sometimes when there’s storm activity out in the Pacific, but other times the ocean can be lake flat with almost no movement.
Winter time is actually considered better diving here with better vis because of lower sun angle and no blooms but you have to catch it between the storms.
The ocean here is the only thing that keeps me in California. If it wasn’t for the ocean I would have been out of here years ago.
And where I live in the northern part of the state the ocean is still pristine and uncrowded. The remoteness and difficulty to get here with curvy roads and the distance from the city is what keeps the crowds in check. Plus not many people are big enough lunatics and dive freaks to dive here.
I’ve been to Hawaii a few times and the GBR once a long time ago and to be honest I like it here better. The only thing the other places had over this place was warmer water, but I don’t care about that. I’m an adventurer/hunter/gatherer and this place suits me just fine.
@rob.mwpropane it sounds like we have a lot in common in our reasons why we dive.
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