Rockaway Beach Park

Rockaway Beach Park sits on the north side of Blakely Harbor on Bainbridge Island, at 9435 Rockaway Beach Road NE. Entry is a scramble over cobble at anything below high tide, and a fixed surface buoy holds the dive line. Most of the reef structure and marine life sits between 40 and 60 feet, and the line descends to about 95 feet at its deepest.

The 0.5-acre beachfront park is a conservancy holding of the Bainbridge Island Land Trust, kept in public trust in partnership with the local parks district. The Cascade Range fills the eastern horizon at surface intervals. Rockaway Beach also serves as the kayak staging point for Blakely Rock, which sits roughly 0.5 mile east across the mouth of Blakely Harbor.

The reef ledge and boulder shelf form this dive site's rocky reef biome, and a kelp forest biome is tagged for the site as well. Scuba divers work the reef for California sea cucumbers, sea stars, and nudibranchs, with rockfish and crabs across the structure. Currents are not much of a concern here, and the reef provides good protection if the water does begin to move. Boat traffic through Blakely Harbor and the sailboat races that circle Blakely Rock offshore are the standing surface hazards.

Street parking next to the small park is limited, and there are no on-site restrooms; the site is best worked at high tide because low water leaves a long cobble walk to the buoy. No marine preserve covers Rockaway Beach Park, so Marine Area 10 recreational rules govern: rockfish retention is prohibited, yelloweye rockfish take is banned statewide, and lingcod may only be speared from May 21 to June 15 at a 36-inch maximum. Giant Pacific octopus and wolf eel are no-take under Washington state rules.