Redondo Beach

Redondo Beach sits along Redondo Beach Drive S in Des Moines, its boardwalk fronting the MaST Center pier at 28203 Redondo Beach Dr S. Stairs drop from the boardwalk to a submersion ladder that puts divers directly in the water. A shallow dive line serves open-water divers, and a deep line runs from the corner of the MaST pier building for advanced divers. Boat wrecks and artificial reef structures sit off the pier, with the pier wall descending past 85 feet.

The city of Des Moines has been officially designated the Sixgill Shark Capital of the World, and the MaST Center hosts an annual Shark in the Park festival at Redondo Beach. Bluntnose sixgill sharks, which can reach 18 feet, are seen closer to shore here than nearly anywhere else in the world, with recreational-diver sightings feeding a MaST citizen-science database. The MaST Center Aquarium itself is a Highline College teaching facility with more than 250 native Puget Sound species in about 3,000 gallons of flow-through seawater, open Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. year-round, Sundays from noon to 4 p.m. in July and August, and weekdays by appointment.

The wrecks and artificial-reef structures fronting the MaST pier form a rocky reef biome, with the shallow inshore shelf inside a seagrass biome. Sixgill sharks appear seasonally from late spring through early fall, and octopus are documented among the wrecks with sculpins, skates, and dogfish across the artificial-reef structures. Current here is usually light, but a bursty exchange known locally as the Redondo River can appear on ebbs exceeding roughly 10 feet, and downwellings can occur on significant tidal shifts. Local guidance during a Redondo River burst is to hunker down and wait it out.

Public boardwalk parking runs along Redondo Beach Drive S near the pier, with restrooms on the boardwalk. Recreational octopus take is prohibited within the Redondo Beach Octopus Preserve under WAC 220-330-180(2)(c)(ii) and is enforced by WDFW; for other species, Marine Area 10 rules apply, meaning rockfish retention is closed and lingcod may only be speared from May 21 to June 15. Sixgill sharks are subject to no directed take, and giant Pacific octopus and wolf eel are no-take under Washington state rules.