North Horseshoe Cove
Salt Point · Sonoma County · California
Visibility Breakdown
Visibility by position
Solid = diver report · outlined = today's forecast
Post Break: The range past where any waves are forming, where the water starts to have a significant increase in visibility. There might be some sediment here, but swell energy is diffused and the water is calmer.
Open Water: This zone is far out enough from the shore that the water is at its clearest. It’s deep enough that sediment is not disturbed by the wave energy at the surface. Haze can sit near the surface, so the water is usually clearer the deeper you go.
Through the day
Today's visibility readings at this spot, shown at the hour each one was taken.
Every bar is a reading for the Post Break zone.
This chart shows measured diver reports only.
Did you dive today?Please share the visibility to make our algorithm more accurate.
Report visibility
Today's forecast
Updated 4:38 PM PT today · October 13, 2026Dawn is the clearest window — onshore wind picks up by late morning and surface chop stirs the bottom through the afternoon.
7-Day Forecast
Map · getting there
38.612° N · 123.362° W
Open in Google Maps
Open in Apple MapsAbout North Horseshoe Cove
North Horseshoe Cove is the northernmost dive access inside Salt Point State Park, a remote rocky beach that wraps around the back of the cove below high cliff faces. Depths across the cove run between 30 and 50 feet, and a bull-kelp bed, thinned since the 2013 north-coast die-off but still present, forms over the reef through spring and summer. Divers reach the water by carrying gear down a trail from a Highway 1 pullout marked at an opening in a wooden fence above the beach.
The cove was one of the traditional north-coast abalone free-diving destinations before the statewide fishery closure took effect in 2018. Today it is an observation-only site.
The section of the cove where bull kelp anchors on the rocky bottom and grows up to the surface in season is a kelp forest biome. Boulder and cobble across the cove floor and along the base of the cliff faces make the bottom a rocky reef biome.
Parking is at a highway pullout above the beach with no restrooms or other amenities; the nearest facilities sit at Gerstle Cove or Fisk Mill Cove to the south. The Salt Point State Park day-use fee is $8 per vehicle at official park lots. Take of any living, geological, or cultural marine resource is prohibited inside Stewarts Point State Marine Reserve.
Kelp Forest
The kelp forest biome is giant kelp anchored to rocky bottom and growing up through the water column. The canopy and stipes form a three-dimensional habitat that shelters fish, invertebrates, and the predators that hunt them. Learn more about this biome and the species found in it by clicking the link below.
Learn more in the Biome Glossary
Rocky Reef
The rocky reef biome is bare rock, boulder, and cobble structure without a kelp canopy above it. The hard relief and its crevices shelter invertebrates and reef fish, and the structure concentrates life that the surrounding sand cannot hold. Learn more about this biome and the species found in it by clicking the link below.
Learn more in the Biome GlossarySnorkel Species Report
The fish found at North Horseshoe Cove are being researched for the Ichthyopedia. This section fills in as species are mapped to this beach.
Browse the Ichthyopedia →Nearby beaches
Surf Zone
Ocean Oracle ProGain the Power
of the Oracle.
Ocean Oracle sees the future. Get 7-day visibility forecasts for every beach, alerts when a prime day is coming, and a dive log that remembers every dive.
Free shows you what the ocean looks like today. Ocean Oracle shows you the week ahead, watches your beaches for you, and remembers every dive.
Visibility predictions for the entire week ahead at any beach. Plan dives, schedule charters, and book trips without guessing.
When a beach on your watchlist is running good water, or the week ahead shows a good day coming, Ocean Oracle emails you. A prime window never slips past.
Every entry freezes that day's report: visibility, tide, swell, wind. Log catches, stamp Personal Bests, level up your guns, and light up your species life list.
The Coastal Bulletin greets members with the clearest water on the coast today and their own watchlist, before a single click.
Track your favorite beaches in one place. Forecasts and alerts for everywhere you dive.
A members-only board on every beach where taking fish is legal: how other members hunt the spot, with the gear, tide, season, and target species. Post your own and earn XP.
See the future. Dive on the right days.