Port Orford Jetty

Port Orford is on the southern half of the Oregon south coast, and its port jetty and Graveyard Point together form the flagship shore dive of this stretch. The site wraps around Graveyard Point on the east side of the port dock; the western side of the point takes the open Pacific full-force, while the eastern side is sheltered by Port Orford Head. Depths start shallow and reach about 40 feet at the end of the jetty, with the general Port Orford diving range documented at 5 to 35 feet. Reported visibility runs 15 to 20 feet on a good day, and the Port Orford area is broadly considered the clearest water on the Oregon coast.

The Port of Port Orford is one among the few dolly docks in North America, meaning working vessels are lifted out of the water each night by crane and stored on the dock; the port jetty and Graveyard Point sit at the base of that active commercial operation. Dive history at the site runs deep, and the area was once famous among divers for record-class red abalone taken decades ago, a species now closed to all take statewide. Multiple rockfish species and lingcod are documented at the site, and the invertebrate cover on the jetty rock is dense.

Jetty stone and the base of Graveyard Point form a rocky reef biome, and the exposed western side takes enough Pacific swell to make the outer face a surf zone biome. Scuba, snorkeling, and spearfishing are all documented uses, and the site is well known for spearfishing under standard Oregon rules. When there is any surf running, the inside of the jetty is the diveable option, and the outside comes into play only on a flat day. Port and commercial fishing traffic on the inside means dives stay clear of the dolly-crane and boat lanes.

Parking is at the far end of the port lot near the end of the dock, past the marina operations and restaurant, and the lot serves working port traffic first. Oregon State University's Port Orford Field Station at 444 Jackson Street has operated the only public scuba tank fill service on the Oregon south coast; a July 2025 city letter referenced discussion of a possible field-station closure, and current fill-service status is worth confirmation by phone at 541-366-2500 rather than assumption. Take is enforced under standard Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife recreational marine rules; abalone is closed statewide, and the Redfish Rocks Marine Reserve about 4 miles south is a full no-take zone whose boundaries do not extend to the port jetty.