Scuba Diving The Oregon Coast Newport

looking from the south jetty to the north jetty and the Newport bridge.

Newport is located on the Oregon coast, about 2 hours west of Eugene on Highway 101. This is a beautiful area in the summer months and winter stormy months.

As you first approach the Newport bridge you will need to take a right turn before the bridge and follow the road around and go past the Rouge BEER brewery, and you will go under the bridge and through a state gate to what is locally referred to as the fingers. Get your Dive gear ready.

TIP: Always prepare for a dive by a very extensive dive gear check and a consult you own personal Dive Gear checklist on every dive, (don’t forget, check your buddy too).

The fingers is a straight line pile of rocks that is just visible above the water that follows along into the bay about 60 feet, and there are 4 of them.

There is another dive that you can do just up past the bathroom station. Follow the rocks down to the water and float to the 1st finger, on a fast current you can cover a lot of territory and I don’t think i have ever not been able to get a big Lingcod and plenty of Black Bass (a local favorite and mine) during the float unless it was very dark water which limits visibility.

Most everybody parks at the 2nd finger (equipped with a very large parking area) and plenty of access to the water, over the rocks of course, and look out the rocks are slippery.

Be sure and take a compass heading directly away from the rocks so when the dive is complete you can follow you compass back to shore, the easiest way to enter the water is to tie your fins to your BCD (using a lanyard of some type) and let them hang so you can have your hands somewhat free to navigate the slick rocks (you’ll need your spear gun of course and I always lanyard it to my BCD also) you can put your fins on in the water.

Once in the water sink to the bottom beside the rocks and work your way along side following the rocks to the end of the finger, be sure to look closely at all the small rock openings for a big fish to be hiding back inside them, and don’t forget your crab net also, there are plenty of crab in the rocks, so bring home your bounty.

The other fingers are very good diving also, but the large parking area is nice for gear removal and not having to walk back to you vehicle in full gear is nice for some folks. Please feel free to comment about your favorite dive atNewport and please join my blog. Thank you very much for reading my post about Scuba Diving the Oregon Coast Newport

Thank You, Gregory Pierce @ Scuba Happy

Diving The Oregon Coast, Florence South Jetty

Diving the Oregon Coast, South Jetty in Florence Oregon can bring you a bounty of delicious Dungeness Crab for you troubles and if your lucky some Cockle clams also.

Finding Florence is a fairly easy trek, it’s located about an hour west from Eugene Oregon on highway 101, (101 runs the entire Oregon Coast to the California border.

To find the South jetty you head south on hwy 101, go through Florence and over the Bridge that connects Florence to the south coast. Proceed south until you see a sign for the South Jetty on your right, this is a state protected park so you will have to pay a day use area fee of $5.00.

Follow the road all the way to the Concrete Crab jetty (a large concrete platform that the public is allowed to drop crab pots and fish from.

Once your dive gear is on follow the left side of the rocks, you will be going along side of the left side of the jetty, crawl the rocks down to the water and take a compass heading to the rt side of the marker as you look out into the bay (the pole or marker is a navigation aid and there are a lot of large rocks that the fish and crab like to call home.

Follow your compass heading until you come to the rock pile, there is an opening area that you can go through to access the other side of the rock pile (actually more of a long rock pile, could be 60 ft long and about 20 ft high, prime area for some crab and fish. the rocks are only about 10 ft from the surface of the water, and sometimes partially exposed.

After your Crab bag is full of crab and Cockles you can follow your compass back to shore, be sure and look for more Cockles on the way back.

This is a very easy dive for beginners and professionals alike, but remember to enter the water about 30 minutes before the tide switch, dive during the slack tide and you will have less current to deal with and have easier hunting for crab, you can dive this area on a low or high tide slack. If there is too much water exchange then you will want to enter the water sooner because the tides change faster during a large water exchange situation. (TIP: Always check you dive gear and complete you pre dive gear checklist prior to water entry.

Be sure to let me know what you think of this area and i’ll see you down under. Thanks and great diving. Greg. Let me know how your dive went in Florence at my Website & Blog  

Scuba Diving The Oregon Coast, Port Orford

When Scuba diving the Oregon Coast, Port Orford, there are 2 options, either you have a friend with a boat, (most boats have to be lowered into the water by a hydraulic strap hoist, manned operated by a friendly dock employee) or you are having to dive from land.

If you have a boat then there are several large rock formations that have a lot of fish for spearfishing if that’s what you into like me. **Safety note **, Always be careful and aware of your surroundings when boating Port Orford, the weather can change without any notice and rough seas can come up on you all of the sudden. Diving Port Orford can be a challenge but well worth it, always check your dive gear and consult your own personal pre dive gear checklist before water entry.

When diving from the shore there are several possibilities for a successful dive. You can dive from the beach to the left of the main concrete dock and enter and exit from the sand, you can sometimes work your way under the dock and get some good diving. Or you can also enter the water on the right side but you have to park on the rt side of the dock and go over the wall and follow a concrete path to a series of large rocks to enter the water.

When entering the water from the large rocks it is best to have a buddy help you into the water and hand your gear down to you after entry, because it is about a 5 ft drop into the water from the rocks, there is sometimes a rope that divers use to get into the water from the rocks.

This dive can take a toll on your diving gear if you don’t be careful because of the way you have to enter the water, so pick your entry method and have your buddy slowly assist you into the water keeping close tabs on your dive gear.

Once into the water you will most definitely have to deal with the surge of waves that consistently crash between the rocks, so get under the water as soon as you can to avoid the waves and surge.

Take your compass heading and plot you course of action, usually I head away from the rocks and follow alongside the dock, there are some very large boulders that are all over the place that will hold some fish gathered around them if your fishing with a spear gun or spear pole.

There is little to no boat traffic so you biggest concern may be underwater limited visibility, if you stay close to the dock and don’t venture too far from it you should see a lot of fish and maybe even some crab.

Port Orford is one of the best dives you can have, under the right weather and wind conditions, Always dive safely with a buddy and you will have a blast, If you have questions please contact me and I will get back to you asap. Thanks Greg

Scuba Happy :)

Howdy, welcome to the Scuba Happy Blog, the topic for my first Blog is to share a story about one of the best of many scuba diving experiences in my life. If anyone has a similar story please let it rip. It was a very cold morning on the Oregon coast in Garibaldi Oregon, We were suppose to have the boat underway at 5 am to catch the tide over the bar. The Captain made the call the trip was on;  He checked his usual sources to find out about the weather and we were off. After a 2.5 hour boat ride we arrived at the site. Everyone was in the water and down. I entered the water and my decent to the bottom was without issue, I got my bearings and started to head to my earlier calculated compass heading towards a large rock swarming with birds. I was about 60 feet down when i started to see the birds swimming under the water to 40 ft to get into a school of bait fish, quite a spectacle to witness. I headed off with my spear gun ready for action. I come around this large rock and immediately seen a very large halibut buried in the sand, (all you could see was his eyes)  I pulled the trigger on the spear gun and the ride was off, that halibut was doing very fast circles round and round until he was right up next to me, I took my stringer and poked it through his eye and he was done, I'm not sure I would shoot a Halibut again it was quite adrenaline rushing experience and I will never forget it. When I got back to the boat they said it was a record halibut for the year and they were all amazed that I was able to keep it, I told them it almost got away, if  I would have missed with the stringer pointed end into his eye,  it would have been a different story, he would have gotten away. Thanks Greg