Gerstle Cove

Gerstle Cove is a small protected pocket cove at the south-central end of Salt Point State Park on the Sonoma coast, tucked directly below the park visitor center. The mouth opens west, and the water runs to roughly 50 feet out at the mouth. Inside, depths sit between 10 and 30 feet over a rocky bottom broken by low shelves and boulders. Palm kelp covers the shallow reef through the year, and bull kelp forms a seasonal canopy over the deeper water.

Named for the Gerstle family, co-owners of the 19th-century Salt Point Ranch, the cove is one of California's oldest marine reserves, protected since the 1970s and folded into the state's MPA Network in 2010. No take has been enforced here for decades, so the rocky-reef community reads as an unfished reference for this coast.

The deeper water in the cove and out the mouth is a kelp forest biome, with bull kelp anchored on the reef and growing up through the water column to the surface in season. A rocky reef biome lines the north side of the cove, where bare rock and palm-kelp-covered shelves run out around the point.

Diving here is observation only. Scuba divers and snorkelers work the reef on calm days, and underwater photography is a common draw. The paved lot at the visitor center holds ample vehicles, restrooms sit at the day-use area, and the Salt Point State Park day-use fee is $8 per vehicle. Take of any living, geological, or cultural marine resource is prohibited inside Gerstle Cove State Marine Reserve.