Port of Garibaldi Docks

The Port of Garibaldi occupies the south side of Tillamook Bay in the town of Garibaldi, Tillamook County. Divers work three structures along the port's south riprap: the Crab Dock in the middle of the complex, the Lumber Dock, and a commercial dock to the east. At low tide the whole area drops to a mud flat, which makes the Crab Dock a high-tide-only site. At 402 South 7th Street, the Port office can be reached at (503) 322-3292, and divers are expected to check in before entering the water.

Garibaldi is an active working harbor with 277 vessel moorage, a public boat launch, and public docks used for recreational crabbing and fishing. The port complex includes charter offices and restaurants. Barview Jetty, to the north, is the ocean-side site in this stretch; the port docks are its calm-water alternative when the ocean face at Barview is unfishable.

The riprap and the pilings put the docks in a rocky reef biome, a mud-bottom bay setting with hard structure rising off it and no kelp, seagrass, or open-ocean surf. The bay-side location keeps swell out. Scuba divers and snorkelers use the site for training, for macro observation, and for Dungeness crab, which the public docks were built to support.

Parking sits in the port lot, which has restrooms and is adjacent to the port office. Divers should ask before entering off the riprap by the port office and should not dive the commercial dock while a ship is tied up; the charter company at the foot of that dock is the point of contact for permission there. Working-harbor boat traffic is the primary hazard, and a dive flag is required. Spearfishing is legal in Oregon ocean and estuary water under standard Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife rules, but the docks are not a documented spearfishing site; a shellfish license is required for Dungeness crab.