Fairbank Point

Fairbank Point is a low point on the east side of Morro Bay, inside Morro Bay State Park and roughly a mile north of the Museum of Natural History at White Point. The state park's heron rookery stands at the point, and a privately maintained boat channel runs south from there to the state park marina basin. The bottom falls away close to shore here, which is what makes Fairbank Point the one place in Morro Bay where a shore diver reaches depth without a boat.

The water at the point is estuary water, moved by tidal exchange through the harbor mouth rather than by waves, over soft bottom that shelves off into the channel. That combination makes Fairbank Point a bay biome, and it is the only biome the site carries. Eelgrass has been recovering across Morro Bay since 2017, but monitoring at the state park marina to the south found it sparse through 2024, so the point is not counted as a seagrass bed.

Scuba is the only activity in the water here, and wildlife viewing at the rookery observation area happens above it. The dive sits under the boat traffic running between the harbor and the state park marina, so a dive float is not optional equipment at this site. Current follows the tide through the bay. The rookery itself is closed to entry, and great blue herons, cormorants and egrets nest there between February and June.

Parking is at the Museum of Natural History on State Park Road, with the entry a walk north along the bay shore from the lot. Fairbank Point sits inside the Morro Bay State Marine Recreational Management Area, which prohibits take of all living marine resources except waterfowl and, north of latitude 35° 19.7' N, recreational finfish. The point is north of that line, so hook-and-line fishing and spearfishing for finfish are legal here under standard California regulations, and no invertebrates may be taken. The Morro Bay Harbor Department allows scuba and free diving only outside the marked navigation channel and asks divers to stay within 100 feet of a dive flag.