Cates Park

Good

Low tide reveals some barnacle-encrusted rocks. Just take your time, and help your buddy into the water. Just to the right of the above picture, the boat ramp offers the easiest entry. There is ample parking. You might want to find a picnic table close to the beach to stage your gear. Click the 'Cates Park Sign' link above to get the most recent photo of the new sign by Cameron Stewart.

Went here once on a rainy ugly day. Vis was horrible, maybe 5~10 feet or even less if we touched the bottom. Had a decent first dive, cucumbers, urchins,starfish; the usual stuff. Second dive, buddy lost pocket weight, my glove popped off, we bailed 5 minutes in. Current was strong at this point, as well as the surf. Went a second time in Late January. It was great! Sunny day, park was busy with crabbers and park gooers. Heres a list of things I saw just around the dock and the shoreline on the right of it (if you are facing the water. Moon Jelly, Lumpsucker, Hood Nudibranch, tons of what I believe to be Verrucose Aeolid, Plumose Anemome, Sculpins, Bay Goby…I could go on. My partner even spotted the elusive Pipefish. Second dive we swam out to the big docks in the right distance. Cannot say it was worth the swim. Though, on the way out we found a unattached crab trap with more than half dozen large male crabs inside. Lets say my family were happy campers when I got home. Tons of dungeness crab, watch out for size though. Great for beginner divers!

Some monster ling cod spotted in cement pipes. "Wreck" (piece of a hull) covered in plumes.

Cates Park is an easy dive for beginners and those with a keen eye. There is not much variety in the life, but there is some unique life if you take the time to look for it. You can find Bay Pipefish, Moon Snails, and a good variety of crabs and fish. The nice thing in the winter time, for wetsuit divers, is that the washrooms are heated and the locals are not picky about divers in them, not like other sites. This is a nice pinic area in the summer for BBQ's in between dives.