A hazy 15-20 feet, 15 feet in the shallows (incoming tide)
A mighty fine day at Salt Creek with Jess & Eric! Posting some of my GoPro pictures. Found one pinto abalone, a keyhole limpet, lots of big leather stars, some really plump cookie stars, beautiful schools of either herring or smelt, and one little red-eye medusa on the way out!
Scuba Jess enjoying her dive at Salt Creek. This is a shallow yet super-advanced dive. Photo by Eric Askilsrud.
Fish-eating anemones at Salt Creek. Photo by Eric Askilsrud.
A rock greenling in the surfgrass at Salt Creek. These fish live shallow in the most surge-filled waters around during breeding season. When it's not breeding season, they can usually be found at around 700 feet deep! You'd think with all these colors they'd be easy to spot, but they're surprisingly well camouflaged. Photo by Eric Askilsrud.
Rock greenling at Salt Creek. Note how you can see the blue water color thru the fins. The transparency is another adaptation that makes these vibrant fish surprisingly well camouflaged. Photo by Eric Askilsrud.
An ultra rare 7-arm octopus at Salt Creek. See this Live Science article for more info. Photo by Eric Askilsrud.
This is the Salt Creek parking area we use, near campsite 63. There are several other entries possible, but this is by far the best entry area on most days.
Salt Creek has a steep, narrow path that can be slippery and dangerous. Use caution. We usually bring our gear down in batches.
Here is the Salt Creek entrance we use on the right of the stairwell. Sorry for the small font, but in short, take the green paths. Avoid the red paths, use caution at the yellow areas. We use the right entrance on lower tides, the left entrance on higher tides. On >6 foot tides, these will likely all be covered with water. Study where these rocks are for awareness.
Always keep your regulator in your mouth while entering the water at Salt Creek. We actually recommend doing so at all dive sites, but Salt Creek in particular has many trip hazards. Photo by Scuba Jess.
Salt Creek can have some very rough conditions. Be sure to check conditions as advised in our briefings to ensure a safe dive. We would not dive on this day and we have >100 dives here!
The stairway up to the parking area at Salt Creek.
For more dive site scenery—parking, shore entry, and the area around the site—visit our , where we even project a dive flag into the scene at the point of entry!
