Larrabee State Park

Larrabee State Park sits about 6 to 7 miles south of Bellingham along Chuckanut Drive in Whatcom County, and the dive entry is at Wildcat Cove at the north end of the park. The cove holds a concrete boat launch with a large parking area, and shore entry is off either the launch or the pebble-and-rock beach. Above the water, the shoreline is sculpted Chuckanut Formation sandstone, a named geologic feature of the Chuckanut Mountains that gives the cove its pocketed cliffs and continues underwater as the substrate for what marine life the site holds. This is Bellingham Bay's only real shore-dive entry.

The park was established in 1915 as Washington's first state park. It now covers 2,748 acres and has about 8,100 feet of saltwater shoreline. The state park page notes invertebrate life visible from the water along the sandstone cliffs, including anemones and sea stars. A shallow wreck sits in Wildcat Cove itself, documented in a January 2025 dive video posted from the site, though its depth and dimensions have not been independently published.

The site carries a rocky reef biome along the sandstone cliffs where the Chuckanut Formation continues underwater as the working substrate for the invertebrate life along the shore. A seagrass biome fills the softer bottom inside the cove. Larrabee lacks the features that define the Fidalgo corridor to the south: current-swept walls, kelp forests at recreational depth, and the Rosario Strait invertebrate carpet. Visibility follows the Bellingham Bay silt regime fed by the Nooksack River, and clarity is low compared with the channel sites down the coast. Scuba divers and snorkelers use the site, with beginners on the shallow shoreline and paddlers working the cove above the water.

Parking is at the large lot serving the boat launch and campground, with restrooms and a day-use area, and a Discover Pass is required at $10 a day or $45 a year. Wildcat Cove is subject to periodic swimming advisories for elevated Enterococcus bacteria, and checking the current advisory status before entering is a standard step. Rockfish retention is prohibited throughout WDFW Marine Area 7 and enforced by state closure, and wolf eel and giant Pacific octopus are protected non-take species statewide.