Northwest Dive Club

I always eye Whale Cove just south of Depoe Bay when I'm out on the coast. It looks pretty sheltered from surge and current and like it should have some interesting rocky structure. It could be done easily from a boat out of Depoe Bay but I was wondering if anyone has ever dove it from shore and, if so, where is the access and how was it?

If you put together a group to attempt a shore dive from there I would be up for trying that.

There's some sort of resort that borders part of it I think. I'll try and call them and see if they could provide shore access or know of any public access. If not I am definitely checking it out by boat later this spring or summer.

I would be interested in trying that dive too, let me know what you find out.

I will.

i'm in. say when.

Here's some info I got from another member of the board on Whale Cove. Makes it even more interesting.

"Looks like the only access without repelling is going to be from MacDonald Rd. onto the beach at the north end of the cove. If you find any cultural material take a picture and let me know. Our plan is or was to go in by boat at some point. This cove was used by rum runners in the 20-30s and there is at least one if not two native pit house remains on the cliff rim. This is also the cove Ward claims Drake entered in 1579."

If you look up "Whale Cove, OR" on google maps you can see what he is talking about as far as shore access. I may do an exploratory trip out to the end of McDonald Road in the next couple of weeks. I was just out there and drove down Oceana a little way but didn't follow it out all the way out to McDonald. It looks like a couple of private residences. I'll see if anyone is there and how they feel about divers accessing the cove through their property. If we can't get out there to shore dive it I am definitely going to hit it by boat, probably in May or June.

Hey Spatman, could you post a link to the google maps satelite view of Whale Cove? I'm having some technical difficulties tonight.

Here is a link to it on Google Maps.
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 7&t=h&z=17

I'm always interested in hearing more about Oregon dive sites. Keep us posted . That sandy beach behind the house on the cove looks pretty nice :P.

-Aaron- wrote:I'm always interested in hearing more about Oregon dive sites. Keep us posted . That sandy beach behind the house on the cove looks pretty nice :P.

Hey Aaron, long time no talk. This site is almost in your back yard.

-Aaron- wrote: . That sandy beach behind the house on the cove looks pretty nice :P.

Almost worthy of one of those coconut drinks with the little umbrella!

Isn't there a site with online nautical charts that would give us an idea of the depth? I thought I had one bookmarked but I can't find it.

Scale of the chart is 1:50,000 so you can not see much. NOAA is planning to survey the Oregon and Washington coast with multi-beam but so far there is only good bathemitry data for limited areas that I know of.

http://www.charts.noaa.gov/OnLineViewer/18561.shtml

Oh yeah the Lidar data has just been released for most of the Oregon Coast.

I would love to know how this goes. I've always been curious about that little cove as we drove by.

I have to agree that it looks like the only dry entrance that won't be rappelled would be private. If anyone gets to be friends with the person on the end of McDonald, let all of us know.

It traps alot of silt. look for a good vis day. not very deep in there, but some really big rockfish and urchins which have been there a long time.