The Point Arena Pier is located in Arena Cove directly below the cliffs of the Point-Arena Stornetta Lands.
The 330-feet long public fishing pier is the hub for fishing activities but is also popular for abalone diving, kayaking, surfing and the launch of pleasure craft. Sea Urchin, Crab and Salmon are popular yields of the commercial fishing vessels that are launched by hoist off the Point Arena Pier which was reconstructed in 1983 when a storm destroyed its predecessor.
At the right time of the year it is one of the best fishing piers in the state. Throughout the year, sport and commercial fishermen catch rocky-area species like striped seaperch, kelp and rock greenling, and cabezon and lingcod. In their seasons, there are salmon and crab. The fish caught at the pier are generally good quality fish and many are prize pier specimens.
Prior to the 1860s Point Arena was one of many sites along this stretch of coast which utilized chutes and wire trapeze rigging to load the small coastal schooners with redwood lumber—and other cargo. Most of these ports were so small they were called dog-hole ports—since they supposedly were just big enough to allow a dog to get in and out. Dozens of these were built, and almost any small cove or river outlet was a prime candidate for a chute. Luckily, the captains of these schooners were masters of their art and were able to get out of places like Hard Scratch and Nip-and-Tuck.
However, Point Arena received a real wharf in 1866 and during the 1870s Point Arena became the most active port between San Francisco and Eureka (in fact at one time the cove had two wharves). Steam schooners like the “Seafoam”, “Pomo” and “Point Arena” made regular runs along the Mendocino coast and visited more than a dozen wharves between Point Arena and Eureka. Since then, Point Arena has seen several wharves, testimony to the killer storms (primarily from the south) and waves that periodically thrash the cove. The same destruction was common at most of the other earlier wharves; today the nearest oceanfront pier to the north is at Trinidad, a nautical distance of 131 miles.
The Pier is 322 feet long and includes a boat launch with a hoist, replacing a wooden pier that was destroyed during the winter of 1982-’83
Offshore is some of the world’s deepest waters in the Mendocino Trench; and the underwater Arena Canyon and Navarro Canyon begin directly out from the Point. The cove itself is between 20 to 100 feet with a deep a rocky bottom.
The Pier sits southeast of the Point and is protected somewhat from northwest winds and storms. A small stream runs into the ocean to the left of the pier, and there are reefs to both the south and north.
- Point Arena Pier Panorama 360
- History of the Point Arena Pier, Ken Jones Photography, accessed on January 7, 2016
