Fingers

This picture gives a good idea of what the fingers are like. The whole jetty has parking next to the water. Pick your 'finger' and park there. It's not hard to find the road that leads to the South Jetty. Just look out your window, and head in that direction! Take your time while crawling over the rocks to your entry. To get the best entry locations for your skill level, just drop by the local dive shop.

This is one of the best dives on the Oregon Coast! When you dive this place, ALWAYS try and dive on either the low or the high tide. About 15 minutes before low or about 45 minutes before high are good times to go. Usually, high tide is the best time, as the visibility is the best. Take into account how much wind there has been the last two days. If the water in the ocean is churned up, the visibility is low. The winter is the best time to dive, as the cold water keeps invertebrate and plankton growth to a minimum. Also, if it's been raining for a day or two, the water is normally pretty muddy. Wait for two or three days of good weather to go. As for stuff to see, the fingers and the jetty itself has plenty of fish and lingcod. Also, you may get lucky and find a crab. My last dive a week ago, I shot plenty of rockfish, one legal ling, saw dozens of rockfish, couple other lings, but no crab. Plenty of surfperch here too. Also, if you go for the gapers. Find a hole and start wafting the sand and silt away. Works best with the tide. Keep working at it until you dig down about a foot and a half. If you are in a lot of rocks or shells, move on. It's almost impossible to get to them at that point. They are quite a bit bigger here if you can get to em than when they are on a minus tide.

We read the review from this site and have never dove sites from this site, I didn't know how the scale met with my own approval. Weather conditions where great, blue skies, pelicans flying all around. We went in about 15 min before predicted slack and we had only slight current. Entry was tricky as is any jetty entry. The Vis. was maybe 4' and saw only some fish life. Small Black Rock fish, a couple of sculpins, some crab, and a oct. deep in a hole. My overall rating of this dive site is ... Save your air, it is not worth you time and trouble.

Dove this spot twice with my husband. Fun dive along the fingers. Both dives we dove the fourth finger. We ran into a local who dives the fingers a lot. He said the fifth finger (closest to ocean) is great for spear fishing. He came back from the 4th with a few crabs. We saw a couple crabs, but only one worth taking, saw an 18' Lingcod, plus a few giant starfish. Saw tons of clam necks, but too far down to dig out. Also saw small jellyfish size of a quarter. Beautiful day but the wind made it a chilly dive.

We went on a shop trip (www.sevenseasscuba.com) to dive the fingers in Newport and after reading the reviews of it on this site, I was a little concerned we might be in for a bad dive. We got there and timed the dives to be around slack and found the entry was a bit difficult- clambering over large boulders that make up the jetty. We got into the water and dove the 4th finger first. I was pleasantly surprised! Lots of life, decent viz, and the current was mild thanks to the timing. We swam around it twice and got back out. We intentionally had a short dive (30min) so we could squeeze in another before the current picked back up. We dove the 3rd finger this time and it was a bit easier to get in. This place could use some stairs as a diver entry. This was a good dive too- lots of fish, greenling, nudibranch and I even got a video of a juvenile wolfeel in the open!!! We were a bit late hitting the water so the current was ripping along. Crossing over the tip of the finger was more like hand-over-hand on the rocks than swimming. On the sides of the finger, the current was much less. It was fun as we worked our way back to the tip---when we went around, we flew along the edge like drift diving to the entry point....we were really hauling and it was fun since you could tell we were heading the way we wanted to go anyway. I would highly recommend this dive for Oregon and other divers...just be careful of the current and entry. Time it to bracket the slack and if you can, go with folks that are experienced. I posted a dive report on my favorite forum for this dive with pix and video: enjoy! http://www.nwdiveclub.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=9606

Dove the 3rd finger at 10am just before high slack with the Eugene dive club. This finger is muuuch longer than the 5th one. Bottom temp 46F, max depth 34ft. Saw 4 lings, one nice big one seemed like 4' or longer. 4 or 5 greenling, lots of black rockfish. Some Giant Barnacles toward the end of the finger. Luminescent kelp in shallower, some bull kelp farther out on top of the submerged jetty rocks. A little easier access than the 5th finger, still some rock hopping though. Loved it!

Dove the farthest west finger and the one inside that just a half hour before high tide. 6' vis. Saw many black rockfish, a greenling, lots of sunflower starfish (24 legs), and kelp and plants on the rocks hiding lots of life. Max depth for us on this was 24'. First time I've gone here at the fingers and I'll be back again!

This is the second time I have dove this site. The visibility was very bad, and the numbers of fish were not good. I saw one undersized ling cod, some smallish rockfish, and perch that I did not bother with. I only found two red rock crabs. I did my first dive on the afternoon incoming tide on a Thursday, and my second dive on the morning high tide. It did not seem to matter as far as the visibility was concerned. I only saw one other diver on Friday.

I dove this site with the intent to crab. We put out are flag on the east side of the 5 finger and stayed on the east side between the two fingers to avoid the current. We heard a lot of traffic from boats and we where down about 30 feet. All of the sudden I felt a jerk, then another jerk. Before I knew what was happening I was being pulled up. I realized that I was being hooked and pulled by about 5 hooks. I quickly grabbed by knife and started cutting line, but there were just too many hooks and before I knew it I was at the surface with a bloody nose and was bleeding out of almost every place I could. When I got to the top the fisherman where laughing saying you’re the biggest fish I caught all day long. I noticed my flag in their boat and yelled at them. They threw my flag back in the water and cut the line and sped off. I wanted to report them, but being worried about my health, I decided to go into shore. My dive partner then surfaced and asked what happened. He said we were diving next to each other, he looked away, then when he looked back I was gone but my spear gun was on the bottom. He looked around for a minute then surfaced. I will never dive here again. The fisherman don't respect the rules and it was a boring dive anyway. Be careful diving here and I would recommend having someone on the shore looking out for fisherman.

This is a top spot for valley divers, and a great spot for spear fishing. My sister had her checkout dive here (2-3 finger). I once dove two dives at the fifth and sunken jetty, and did a third drift dive out with no gun and saw two huge lings and rock fish. Sand will shallow up to about 10' (from 30-20) that's when it's time to get out.

Another wonderful dive at the fingers. Vis was normal 4-5' lots of perch, greenling, black rock fish, a cabazon a few lings and a few dungees and red rock crabs (should have brought a bag). Lots of giant barnacles, and the sand bottom is littered with large clam shells. Current wasn't bad between fingers but picks up at the tips of the fingers, diving at high slack is best I have found. The entry… well that's the kicker stumbling over large boulders (some slick, some not) is always a good time, and, if the surf is up, timing your slip off your entry rock with the waves is a thrill every diver should experience. Other than getting in, it's a pretty good dive and I have never not seen fish and crabs there.

Lots of fish, took perch ,rockfish, Irish lord ,one cabazone and one ling cod. Only found two legal crab. Did 2 dives on a sat. and 2 on sun. Surge was up second day. Vis. was between 2 to 12 ft. Had very good time.

My buddy and I dove at high tide. viz was 8-10. Speared 1 sea bass saw 5 crab; wasn't very exciting. Climbing down the rocks was exhausting. I've heard you can get into some pretty good fishing but I didn't see much. We dove 1 hour later viz was 2-4 feet. We saw nothing, including each other, and I drifted about 100 yards, but still better than not diving at all.

Sorry... two thumbs down. Entry/exit over slick boulders is ok if you're patient. You can park within 50 feet of the water. We dove the worst time, an 8 foot exchange, 4 hours after high tide, 4 hours before the next low tide. I was expecting a ripping current, towards Japan, but it was very mild and so we went from the 3rd finger past the last finger toward the bar [ocean], about 300 yards and 70 minutes total. Viz was about 15 feet. But there wasn't much to view... a few crabs, one kelp greenling, 3 scorpion-like fish, very sparse anemone and tubes... mostly shell fragments and mud. Pardon the negative input, I enjoyed being in the water, but with Puget Sound only a couple hours away... why would you dive here? Maybe try a boat trip to the pinnacles off Newport about 3 miles. We did this in 9 foot swells and huge surge, but it was worth the trip that weekend. Most boats won't go out there over 5 ft swells, but the surge is manageable if you find a 60-70 foot deep wall and go with it... don't fight it.

I have done approximately 12 dives here spanning from August to December 2003. The best vis was in late September to October which was around 15 to 20 feet. Lots of perch, lingcod, rock fish, greenling, etc. Not much for crabbing though. I have dove slack and during tidal exchange either of which you can do. If diving during tides, plan on doing a semi-drift dive. Overall, pretty good.

Dove this site on a bad day. Vis was about 1 to 2 ft. Water was churning very bad and the surge was intent on ramming my partner and me into the rocks. Entry was not easy. I have dived Barview Jetty north of Garabaldi and the drop off there is more severe making it easier to get into deeper water. I saw only a couple small fish here and only one rock crab. The current was strong. Even between the fingers it was about 1.25 hours before the high tide with a 5ft exchange between low and high. I have heard good things about diving here and will definitly try it again under better conditions. Today was a bad day for vis and perhaps some of the other fingers are more accessable. There is a dive store/bait shop at the end of the road and it has a great set up for cleaning gear and even getting a hot shower, air fills and other acesseries at what seem to be great prices for any area.

I was diving there on Aug.4,5,6 of 2002. Got 14lbs and 8lbs lingcod, 5lbs rockfish, good crabs. Visibility was 10 to 2 ft (on 8/6/02). Guy on 5th finger got 25lbs lingcod. Good fishes are on 3rd and 4th fingers. Use float with dive flag: many fishermen, especially during weekends, are fishing both from shore and from boats. Try to be in the water around high tide. Current is pretty strong about an hour after that. Have your knife with you-a lot of fishing lines down there! Nice big rocks at 24-37ft and fishes are between them.

I dove here quite a bit my first year and a half of diving before moving to warmer waters. The inland side of the 3rd finger is nice for newer divers. Lots of crab, junk and small fish to look at. There's some amount of rock hopping to do to get to the water. Once you get used to this spot, especially exiting the water, then it's fun to dive from the 5th finger on a slack tide before an incoming (high) tide. There's some fairly major boulders to climb with your gear on so you'll be happy to finally reach the water. There's a bit faster drop off at the 5th finger and you'll hit nearly 30' at depth. We dive inland along the jetty from here and get out at the inland side of the 3rd finger, nudged along by the current as the tide comes in. Along the way there are lots of fish... ling cod, cabezon, rock fish and such so it can be a good spot to bring a pole spear if you like. There are Metridium anemones, crabs and lots of nudibranchs to look at and you'll sometimes see green shrimp if you look closely. Warning...dive the bay side of the jetty, not the ocean side unless you are a very good diver and going with someone who's done it already. Divers have died on the south (ocean) side of the jetty.

For the more adventurous, try diving between the last finger (farthest west) and the end of the jetty. The entry and exit is like boldering with scuba gear on, but the vis is usually twice as good as between the fingers. Lot's of fish, Lin Cod, Black Rockfish, Surf Perch, and good grabbing. You will also find a great assortment of fishing gear, crab rings, etc. Watch the tides -- you don't want to be in the water when the current is ripping. Also you'll want to attempt this on a fairly calm day; the climb up and down the rocks is scary enough, you don't want to deal with waves also. Max depth is about 30fsw at high tide. Watch out for fisherman!!!! I was in the middle of wrestling a monster Dungeness when I was hooked and reeled in by a guy on the jetty (I'm not kidding!!) this weekend. Use a dive flag! While changing out of my gear, a boat full of fisherman went trolling right over the section I had been diving.

Don't have much to say about this dive other than I've done it once. Unfortunately the vis was about 1-2ft, you want calm weather for vis to be diveable. Dove during the flood exchange on the 3rd or 4th finger and there was no current until we reached the end of the finger, about 30', then it was a wild ride until we swam around the back side of the finger, current disappeared again. Seemed like there were a lot of the usual fishies in the rocks, but vis was terrible. Bottom is sand, lots of nooks and crannies in the rocks. The farther out toward the end of the jetty (fingers 4&5) it's deeper, the first couple of fingers are fairly shallow, 10-20'. Stop by the dive shop for details, you have to pass it as your driving out on the jetty. Entry is tough at best, scrambling down the huge boulders with your gear on is quite a job, be careful, don't even try this if there is much surge inside the jaws, do the crab dock, or the other dock dive.