Fossil Point Sunken Jetty

Fossil Point sits on the south side of the Coos Bay entrance channel just outside Charleston, and the Fossil Point Sunken Jetty runs west from the point for nearly 2,000 feet before meeting the shipping channel. The structure is the buried remains of an 1879-to-1884 rock jetty, and it sits low enough that the shallow east end reaches only 10 to 15 feet at high tide, while the western end drops to about 45 feet where the rock meets the channel. Access is boat only; the submerged structure has no reasonable shore approach.

Built as the first attempt to train the outer sandbar at the entrance to Coos Bay, the original Fossil Point Jetty was abandoned after an 1885 survey found the design ineffective against the bar. The bay gradually buried the rock, and the structure is now known simply as the submerged jetty; the modern Coos Bay jetty system followed decades later. Fossil Point itself is a well-documented Pleistocene marine terrace, and its exposures are used in ongoing Cascadia earthquake research.

A rocky reef biome runs the full length of the submerged line, from the shallow east end at Fossil Point out to the western end where the rock meets the shipping channel. Scuba is the standard use, and the site is documented as a working spearfishing and crabbing area under standard Oregon rules. Current at the western end can move sharply as the bay drains, and dives on the outer portion are timed on slack water. Charleston runs a working commercial fishing fleet, and traffic in the channel adjacent to the west end is steady.

Launch options are the six-lane Charleston Marina ramp, which charges a use fee; the free ramp at the end of Michigan Avenue off Cape Arago Highway; or the free North Spit ramp when sedimentation permits its use. No marine reserve overlay applies at Fossil Point, and take is enforced under standard Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife recreational marine rules.