North Beach County Park

North Beach County Park sits just north of downtown Port Townsend in a residential neighborhood off Kuhn Street. The beach stretches more than half a mile with open views across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Vancouver Island. Below the surface, depths run from about 10 feet close in out to roughly 60 feet at the kelp bed's outer edge, with a bumper crop of bull kelp sitting just below the surface and a tangle-kelp garden growing on rocks in about 15 to 20 feet.

North Beach is a small day-use property owned by Jefferson County, kept up in part by community volunteers who supplement limited county maintenance. Its main foot-traffic use is as an access point for the hike to Glass Beach along the shore, and its exposure to the open strait makes it one of the harder dives on this side of the peninsula.

Two biomes carry through the site. A kelp forest biome dominates the near-surface water, defined by the bull kelp on the outer edge and the tangle kelp on the inner shallows. Beneath the canopy, the anchoring rock supports a rocky reef biome that runs the width of the kelp bed. Scuba and snorkeling are the site's two documented activities, and photography and kelp exploration are the reported draws. Diving is best at the end of summer, when the bull kelp is fully grown and visibility tends to run cleaner than elsewhere on Puget Sound.

Parking is limited, with the small lot squeezed against neighboring residences; portable toilets and a small shelter are the only facilities. There is no entry fee, and the park is open from sunrise to sunset. Currents just off North Beach and around nearby Point Wilson are severe, and surf and wave action keep the site advanced-only; a scooter is a common recommendation for the long swim to the kelp bed. No marine protected area covers the park. Under WDFW Marine Area 6 rules, rockfish retention is prohibited and lingcod spearfishing is enforced within a May 21 through June 15 window.