Bodega Bay Harbor

Bodega Bay Harbor, also called Bodega Harbor, is the Sonoma coast's main harbor and a shallow-draft harbor of refuge about 60 miles north of San Francisco. It's a small, shallow natural harbor set in a depression along the San Andreas Fault, behind Doran Beach and connected to Bodega Bay by a dredged federal channel. Commercial salmon and Dungeness crab boats work out of it alongside sportfishing charters, recreational boats and trailer boaters from across the North Bay.

Layout

The Army Corps of Engineers maintains the federal channel to 12 feet at mean lower low water, along with three turning basins and three breakwaters. Jetties protect the entrance, and the channel inside is marked by daybeacons, lights and a lighted range. Coast Guard Station Bodega Bay sits on the east side of the channel, 0.8 mile above the entrance. Along Westshore Road on the west side are Sonoma County's Spud Point Marina, with fuel and a free pump-out, and Westside Regional Park, with a three-lane ramp and campground. Porto Bodega Marina on Bay Flat Road has 77 slips for boats up to 40 feet, plus a launch and dry storage, and Mason's Marina is also on the harbor. Doran Regional Park, on the sand spit at the south end, has a second county launch.

Who uses it

Bodega Bay is a major fishing port. County figures put Chinook salmon landings above 2.7 million pounds and Dungeness crab near 3 million pounds. Recreational boaters come for salmon, rockfish and crab, and the harbor gets busy when crab season opens.

What's different about boating here

The inner harbor is very shallow away from the channel, and the channel fills in between dredgings, which run on a long maintenance cycle. Sonoma County has reported shoaling and frequent groundings, particularly among visiting boats, and commercial boats have needed high tide to enter and leave. Plan around the tide, stay in the marked channel and ask locally about current depths. Outside the jetties you're on the open Pacific, where wind, swell and fog build quickly.