Alsea Bay Jetty

Alsea Bay Jetty sits at the mouth of the Alsea River in Waldport, on the south side of the inlet channel that opens the bay to the Pacific. Two shore approaches serve the dive: a free gravel lot next to the Alsi Resort at the west end of Bayshore Drive on the north side, and a lot on Maple Street off Spring Street on the south. From the south lot at low tide, the walk crosses a long tidal mud flat before reaching the channel edge.

Alsea Bay is unmanaged by the Army Corps of Engineers, unlike the improved-port jetties at Yaquina Bay and the Siuslaw. The channel is dynamic, its main course currently hugging the north side of the bay, and the jetty structures shift over time. Yaquina John Point, listed in some dive-guide sources, is the local name for the point of land at the south-side channel entry.

The site is a rocky reef biome inside the channel bordered by a surf zone biome at the ocean mouth. Crab is the reason people dive here; Dungeness gather along the channel edges, and the site is regarded as the best crabbing dive in the Waldport area. Visibility runs 3 to 5 feet on a very good day and can drop to zero on a bad exchange, which is par for the course at Waldport. Winter and spring open the best windows.

The dive must be entered on the low slack. At low tide the drift pulls a diver up into the bay; a high-tide drift risks pushing a diver out through the channel to the open Pacific. Current runs swift once the tide is moving, and the site turns into a drift dive quickly. Neither lot has restrooms. No marine reserve or conservation area covers the bay, and standard ODFW rules govern take of crab, fish, and other species. The Oregon Ocean Endorsement is required for ocean angling and spearfishing beginning January 1, 2026.