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Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at Fort Ross North
This is the Northern most site at Fort Ross. It is technically more challenging than the Southern site due to the hike and the rocky entry.<br><br>Notes from Paul Schmitt to a boater's question: There is a boat launch at Timber Cove a few miles north of Fort Ross State Park. I do not suggest taking a 14 foot aluminum boat as the wind usually blows from the north to the south and picks up late in the morning and really starts blowing hard in the afternoon. An Avon rubber boat is much safer. They will launch the boat for you at Timber cove. I haven't been to Fort Ross for a few years and it seems to me they have stopped all traffic down to the beach. Another outstanding state park with a boat launch is just north of Timber Cove at Salt Point. Timber Cove and Salt Point are usually populated with experienced divers on the week end. Take some time and talk to the divers down on the beach for current conditions and advice. Please note the seas and weather off the north coast of California can be very dangerous, especially if you are not familiar with the area. While diving from shore at the park may be a pain, it is much safer than attempting it in a small boat.
For a scenic ride, take Highway 116 off 101 to the town Jenner. Head North for about 13 miles, and turn left into the Fort Ross State Historic Park. You'll see this site before you get to the Fort.
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Bluestar
Nov 24, 2010, 12:00 AM
scuba
In the month of November I have visited this site 5 times. I will condense my experiences into this one report. Reading previous reviews, I skipped this site for a long time. On one trip early November I was 'kicked' over here by a Reef Campground park ranger due to big waves there, and I discovered how good this site is. Because it is so protected, this site gets a lot of pressure; maybe that is why some reviewers graded this site very low. There are in fact no abs in plain sight in the north cove. But there are plenty of abs in the kelp under the rocks. There are even big ones here and there. My trip yesterday 11/23/2010 yielded a 9.25' ab weighing 5.4 lbs right from the middle of the cove, in 20' of water. On average I find abs every 3 dive-downs; legal abs about every 9-10 dive-downs. That is pretty good considering I can only hold breath for 30 seconds max and usually only 20 seconds. If I just want to get my limit of legal abs I can do it in 30 minutes here, but I usually spend 2 hours in water hunting for the big 3rd ab. I think I would not enjoy the dives as much if big abs are all over the sea floor in plain view waiting to be picked. I like a little challenge finding them, and battling to dislodge them. I frequently have to give up on big abs that are too hard to get because they are too deep in a hole or sandwiched between two rocks. My only complaint about this site is the big vertical distance to hike. Many times I wanted to tank-dive to spear fish, but after ab dive I just got tired of this climb with gears. I love this site so much, that I have not had any inclination to explore other places.
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