Harris Beach State Park

Harris Beach State Park sits on the north edge of Brookings at US Highway 101 mile 356 in Curry County. The beach is sandy with rocky outcroppings and dramatic sea stacks, including Key Hole Rock, a natural arch on the north end. Just offshore, Bird Island (also called Goat Island) rises as Oregon's largest offshore island and a national wildlife refuge breeding site for tufted puffins. The shore dive works out and to the left of the beach, with entry from the sand or a boulder scramble to the rocky bottom, where depth reaches about 50 to 60 feet.

Harris Beach is named for George Harris, a Scottish pioneer who raised sheep and cattle on the ground here in the 1880s. The park is one of 7 Marine Gardens designated along the Oregon coast, and it is the last major Oregon shore-dive access before the California line. Overnight stays are available in the bluff campground: 65 full-hookup RV sites, 25 electrical sites, 59 tent sites, and 6 yurts.

A rocky reef biome runs from the northern outcroppings out through the boulder structure past the scramble entry. The sandy middle of the beach is a surf zone biome, with north-swell exposure shaping when diving is feasible. Scuba and snorkeling are the documented water uses at the site. Harbor seals, California sea lions, and migrating gray whales are documented at the beach, and tufted puffins nest on Bird Island offshore.

Parking is a large day-use lot with restrooms above the beach and a graded path to the sand; published sources disagree on whether the lot carries a day-use fee, so a permit should be assumed until confirmed on site. Take of invertebrates and marine plants in the intertidal is prohibited within the Harris Beach Marine Garden under Oregon Administrative Rule 141-142-0175, except for a single mussel for recreational bait. Standard Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife marine fish rules are enforced subtidal. Landing on Bird Island is prohibited year-round under National Wildlife Refuge rules, and a 500-foot vessel standoff is enforced from May 1 through September 15.