Van Damme State
Park
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Location: |
Part of the community of Little River,
Van Damme State
Park is approximately 5 miles north of Albion and 3 miles south of the town
of Mendocino. |
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Mile
Marker: |
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Access: |
Shore with small boats launchable over the sandy
beach. |
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Facilities: |
Parking is at the beach with the water's edgle
less than 100 yards across a relatively flat beach. There are pit toilets off
the beach parking lot and cold showers outside.
Camping is available at
Van Damme State
Park |
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Nearest Public
Telephone: |
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Van Damme is the most popular dive location north of San Francisco
and is an incredible place to get to know. To look at it, the "cove" at Van
Damme looks very wide open and, yet, it is one of the most protected spots
along the entire coast. When everything else is undivable, Van Damme almost
invariably remains an easy entry.
Standing on the beach and looking around, cliffs along the north
side of the cove provide some obvious protection. Looking to the south, you'll
see a small island that stands in the way of rare southern swells. But the
secret to Van Damme's calm demeanor can be readily seen off to the west. A few
hundred yards offshore, a line of progressively larger wash rocks define an
extensive offshore reef that breaks up surf and swell before it gets inside the
cove. The two largest wash rocks are Top Hat and Key Hole and they're important
landmarks in orienting yourself to this cove.
Inside the cove itself, there are two different bottoms. Most of
the north half of the cove has a sandy bottom at 30' with an occasional boulder
strewn here and there. The depth provides enough protection from divers that
those boulders usually have some very large abalone clinging to them. Other
than that, the area is pretty boring.
The southern half of the cove is much shallower thanks to the
piles and piles of ballast stone dumped there. Back in the 1870s, Van Damme was
a busy logging port with lumber ships coming up from San Francisco. For the
north bound voyage, the ships would carry loads of ballast for stability that
was thrown overboard once inside the cove. Today, those ballast stones provide
anchors for an extensive kelp forest environment and hiding places for the
accompanying abalone.
Along the outside of Top Hat, when conditions allow, the reef
steps up and down around the 20' mark for a few hundred feet to seaward.
Abalone well in excess of 9" are relatively easy to find in this area. Where
the kelp canopy stops and clear water begins, you'll find that the reef makes
one giant step straight down past 80'. At the bottom of that step, you'll find
abalone spaced every 10' or 20' should you be so inclinded.
Additional abalone hot spots in this general area include the
numerous small coves along to the north and south of Van Damme's main cove and
around the island just south of Van Damme. Exploring these areas will also
reveal numerous caverns, tunnels, small islands, and pocket coves. This place
is Kayak Diver's heaven. |
