Oregon Coast - Is vis ever decent?

[wontbslow]

I needed to do an equipment check this weekend, and the Oregon Coast was the closest saltwater dive spot, so Saturday I ventured out to the Garibaldi Pier just past Tillamook. The type of dive was unimportant to me, as I was just trying to get my buoyancy dialed in with my new tanks before my Bandito boat dive this coming Friday.

Dropped in at high tide, and the vis was horrible. We're talking 2 feet average, with maybe 3 feet at best. I heard that there are some stuff at the end of the pier making an artificial reef, but I was not in the mood to dive out that far with vis that lousy. I was also in a 6.5mm wetsuit, and didn't want to get stuck far out if I got cold. Water temp was around 53 degrees, so it wasn't that bad.

I kept my eye on the bottom and saw a one large crab, and a funny hermit crab. My 6 and 4-year-old daughters got a kick out of watching the dive flag be drug around in a bay full of pea soup. 40 minutes later the current really kicked in, and I called it a night. Despite the crappy vis and extremely shallow depth, the dive served its purpose for I got my buoyancy all worked out. (Brand new steel 119's!)

My question is: Are there more interesting things to see out at the end of the pier? And does the Vis at the coast significantly improve at different times/locations? This was my first dive on the coast, and I'd like to find decent dives out there if possible, since it's about half the distance to Hood Canal from Beaverton OR.

Thanks

 

[gomi_otaku]

Just noticed there is an article about Oregon in the Northwest Dive News nwdivenews.com
Only saltwater it mentions is around Florence/Eugene at the Fish Ladder...?
gomi_

 

[Tasarsailor]

Go to the shorediving.com website for many suggestions of dive spots. There are many others accessible by boat. The vis inside the jetty at Barview and further into the bay will never be "good" by most standards. However I am usually in harvest mode down there and don't need to see more than two spear lengths.

My last dive on the jetty was about 15' vis. Dives in the bay is typically much less. This time of year it can be good but you need to wait for the streamflows to recede. Netarts is a good bet when streamflows are high. There are no rivers flowing into Netarts. Lots of folks dive netarts just google away and you will find lots of info. There is a guy that lives in Salem that dives it a lot and has seen a monkey face eel there.

Tasarsailor.

 

[Craig Baumann]

A brief distance toward the ocean from the Old Garibaldi Coast Guard pier where you were diving is a place called Anchor Hole. Typically the vis stinks in the bays along the Oregon coast, but I have dived Garibaldi Bay at Anchor Hole where the vis was 60 to 70 feet. I have been diving on the Old Coast Guard pier a dozen times or more. My dives were enjoyable, but as I recall the vis was always limited there. (That pier by the way is over 700 feet long!)

The Oregon Coast diving out of Garibaldi at Cape Lookout is amazing - very beautiful but vis is usually limited to the 20 to 30 foot range. It is deceptive looking down into the water standing on jetties along the Oregon coast. The vis is always better vertically, because light penetrates a greater distance in that direction.

Plan all dives in any bay along the Oregon coast, so you are in the water 1/2 hour before high tide. (Be very careful of large tidal exchanges, as the currents can be very strong.) That way you can experience the brief time between high and low tide where there is not current at all, and that will usually give you the best visibility.

Good luck finding clear water, along the Oregon coast. It can, be done. The tire bundle reef built by Under Water Works in Tigard, Oregon, is the main attraction at the Old Garibaldi Coast Guard pier, and is only located directly under it. There's not much but sand out from the pier, in any direction. For more interesting rock formations try Anchor Hole. Any divers locally, can tell you where it is. For more active diving, the Tillamook jetty is a good bet, but you really have to know what you're doing out there. It's best to dive that with a guide, or an advanced diver who's done it, many times.

 

[brihno]

The Oregon coast can have great visibility... in the right spot, on the right day. I have personally had good luck at Harris beach when the tide is up; at the south beach, where the ocean is sheltered by a small cove.

 

[jumbo]

good vis in Ore-

Port orford is the only diving Ive done in Oregon that can be better than average. But is off shore and can get pretty rough in a hurry. But you can be rewarded with tons of fish and some really cool reef action, my dad claims that theres been 80 foot vis there, but ive never seen it the best ive seen is about 30' which is pretty good.