| |
Click on Location for more Information
|
Casino Point Underwater Park, Santa Catalina Island
Farnsworth Bank, Catalina Island
Richardson's Rock, San Miguel Island
Talcott Shoals, Santa Rosa Island
Yellow Banks, Santa Cruz Island
Cathedral Cove, Anacapa Island
|
Blue Water Shark Cage Diving, Footprint Reef
Santa Barbara County, California
The Archway, Santa Barbara Island
Santa Barbara Channel Oil Rigs
The Towers, San Clemente Island
Begg Rock, San Nicolas Island
|
Casino Point Underwater Park - Santa Catalina Island
Marine park: marked by buoys and rope (Take nothing). Numerous wrecks and marine life. Prevailing current is from the west. Beware of heavy boat traffic when outside of park. Dive permit required from Avalon Harbormaster prior to diving the Valiant or inside Avalon Harbor (no charge).
Farnsworth Bank, Catalina Island
Santa Catalina Island is California's most accessible and populated island. But visitors dive it so often that it's sometimes taken for granted. Still, the island's rugged coastline harbors a wealth of excellent dive areas. Best known as a resort destination, Catalina is the third largest of the Channel Islands group, characterized by steep, rugged mountains with occasional sandy beaches. In the early 1920s, tycoon William Wrigley boosted tourism with the construction of the famed Avalon Casino and a fleet of steamships to carry revelers on weekend excursions. The best diving is found two miles off Ben Weston Point on the windward side of the island at Farnsworth Bank. Farnsworth is one of the Pacific's grandest open-ocean seamounts; the shallowest pinnacle peaks at 65 feet. Schools of blacksmith and perch congregate on the wall, where sheets of yellow anemones provide a bright background; colorful hydrocorals branch along the wall in a vibrant array of vermilion and lavender. Farnsworth is a site for advanced divers and can only be visited on calm days when current is slack. The depths will keep the visit short, but it will be memorable. Bide your time, pick your day and go for it--it's worth the wait.
Richardson's Rock, San Miguel Island
Thirty miles off Point Conception lies San Miguel Island, a desolate piece of land with shifting sand dunes that receive the full brunt of incoming swells and wind. Yet, when the weather window opens and calm prevails, great diving is in store. If you book a dive trip to the northern Channel Islands and wake up at San Miguel in the morning consider yourself fortunate. San Miguel is best known for its offshore walls and pinnacles. Like towering undersea skyscrapers, some of these formations break the surface and plunge hundreds of feet. The best known and least-visited is Richardson's Rock, located eight miles northwest of San Miguel in open ocean. Depths range from 20 to 130 feet. This steep-sided, wave-swept rock is a haul-out for sea lions and fur seals. Deep drop-offs feature Southern California's most intense and colorful wall diving. Near the surface, there's a constant surge. But once you dip below 60 feet, the effects are minimal. Swimming along the wall, divers encounter sea stars of every imaginable hue. Bright anemones, sweeping barnacles and scallops blanket the wall like an ornate tapestry. Every inch of rock is covered with living creatures including mussels, corals, nudibranchs and rockfish. It may take several sorties to make it to Richardson's Rock due to variable weather conditions. Dive boats get there only on special days, but once at San Miguel, you'll discover that good things come to those who wait.
Talcott Shoals, Santa Rosa Island
Located at the northwestern end of the second largest of California's offshore islands, Talcott Shoals is a series of staircase-like ledges that stretches for miles. Like most of the area around Santa Rosa, the shoals are adorned with delicate bright invertebrates. Nudibranchs, encrusting corals and sponges are surrounded by colorful anemones, and large vermilion rockfish sit in camouflage along reef crevices, inviting underwater photographers. When the weather is calm and visibility clear, dive boats often stay at Talcott all day long.
Yellow Banks, Santa Cruz Island
Santa Cruz is Southern California's largest island. Terrain varies from sandy beaches to sheer cliffs. The island's interior features rolling valleys, grasslands and mountainous peaks more than 2400 feet. Although there are many excellent dive sites, perhaps the most diverse terrain, flora and fauna are found at Yellow Banks. Named after the tall limestone cliffs on the leeward side of the island, Yellow Banks is an extensive rolling reef system, characterized by ledges, drop-offs and long, thin finger reefs. Expert to find indigenous Southern California marine life here: halibut and bat rays in the sand patches; abalone and scallops on the rocks; and calico bass in the kelp. Small, friendly sheepshead seem to enjoy gawking at their reflections in a photographer's wide-angle lens. Kelp grows thick here, with fronds, providing habitat for small anemones, kelp crabs and moon snails. In open water outside of the kelp bed, divers may encounter schools of barracuda, white sea bass or a California gray whale.
Cathedral Cove, Anacapa Island
Anacapa Island is actually three islets. Since it's a quick trip from the mainland, scuba classes often visit. Yet despite the occasionally heavy boat traffic, Anacapa always has surprises. East, Middle and West Anacapa, the three islets that form the group, are home to a plethora of great sites. The most striking of these is the archway at land's end on East Anacapa, which has become the icon of the Santa Barbara Channel Islands. But perhaps the best dive site is at the marine reserve at Cathedral Cove. Depts at Cathedral Cove range from 20 to 40 feet. This rock-lined anchorage is a favorite sea lion haul-out. Kelp is thick, fish are plentiful and visibility is good. A small series of wash rocks gives way to miniature walls, canyons and leges. Sea fans grace the rocky substrate, and divers encounter varieties of nudibranchs and anemones as well as large sheepshead and bass. Because of its protected status (and occasional northwesterly winds that make anchoring hazardous), this pristine area is not visited often.
Blue Water Shark Cage Diving, Footprint Reef
Ready for adrenaline-rush showstopper of a dive? Grab your camera and prepare to to behind bars--it's shark-diving time. Consistent action can be found in the open ocean between Anacapa and Santa Cruz Islands at Footprint Reef, where the shallowest point crests at 300 feet. Dive boats lay out a chum line of mackerel, squid and other shark bait. After half an hour, blue sharks and makos slowly start to appear. Several sharks--or even several dozen--may show up, and you'll rarely be disappointed. Sharks swim right up to the cage, often nibbling on the buoys and float compartments. Consider taking several cameras inside the cage; when the sharks are playing, you'll burn lots of film.
The Archway, Santa Barbara Island
While Santa Barbara is the smallest of Southern California's offshore destinations, it features sites that are representative of California's very best. The best-known diving area on Santa Barbara Island is the famous underwater archway. Imagine the terrestrial structure of Natural Bridges in Utah submerged under 70 feet of water and festooned with colorful sea fans, anemones, schools of fish and a curtain of kelp. Most dive boats approach the arch from the seaward side, allowing divers to swim toward the wall and into the archway, where scallops, gorgonians and small colonies of purple hydrocorals await. Be aware that when swells roll through, the surge can be very strong.
Santa Barbara Channel Oil Rigs
Offshore oil drilling platforms are a controversial subject in California. The question is not whether new rigs should be prohibited, but whether the existing ones should continue to exist. Despite this, the rigs may have found a group of advocates: the divers who visit them. An increasing number of divers have been heading to these man-made reefs where schools of fish stream through the vertical iron structures and a variety of invertebrates cover columns and beams. Diving the rigs is like soaring through an unfinished skyscraper, and it rivals any of the offshore pinnacles. When the water is calm, the best place to explore is the 15-to 20-foot zone. Here, huge sea star wrap around rig struts among large barnacles and mussels, and you'll find anemones of every size, color and texture. Visibility on a sunny day is staggering and water temperature can rise to a balmy--for California--68F. Dropping to 40 feet, walls of red, blue and pink anemones and sponges blanket the structure. Venturing deeper, large white mertidium anemones take over, resembling huge feather dusters sweeping the current. If there's a spot off the California coast where divers will be tempted to go deeper than planned, the oil rigs are it. Execute your dive carefully. The marine life on the deepest sections of the vertical pillars is best ignored since most rigs bottom out in dimly lit sand flats well beyond the range of recreational divers.
The Towers, San Clemente Island
Although diving is excellent year-round, San Clemente is often considered ñThe Summertime Islandî because of the numerous dive boats are encountered from May through October. Located 41 miles off the coast, this large island provides a number of protected anchorages. San Clemente is controlled by the military and sometimes parts of the island are closed to boat traffic due to the live firing exercises. But even if one part of the island is closed, there are plenty of other sites for divers to choose from. One of the most beautiful areas at San Clemente is the Towers, located near Northwest Harbor. The Towers lack the vertical drops found on other parts of the island, but make up for it with superb kelp diving, clear shallow water myriad sea creatures. When wind and swells are calm, visibility can exceed 80 feet. The kelp isn't too dense, so divers can easily swim through the area. The reef structures form low-lying mounds and are packed with undersized lobsters. Expect to encounter Pacific electric rays here; these bold Bedouins of the deep are large and very curious, often swimming straight up to divers for a closer look. They make great photographic subjects, but don't let them come too close--they pack a walloping 80 volts.
Begg Rock, San Nicolas Island
More than 60 miles offshore, San Nicolas Island is the last territorial bastion of the United States until you reach Hawaii. San Nicolas is a Navy island where personnel gather data from firings into the Pacific Missile Range. While San Nicholas offers great diving close to its windswept shores, the best site is eight miles seaward at a lonely oceanic outpost called Begg Rock. This volcanic protrusion rising 20 feet above surge-filled waters earned its name by punching a hole in the schooner John Begg in 1824. Strong currents and ocean swells often sweep through the area. On marginal days, a dive boat will tuck into the leeward corner of the rock to escape the waves while divers quickly plunge below the surge-filled shallows. The reef system consists of three main pinnacles and a shallow ridge that connects two of them. Excellent visibility allows divers to traverse the abyssal expanse of blue water and swim from peak to peak. Pancake-sized scallops and anemone colonies grow along the walls, and separate species of anemones congregate in clearly defined plots along the reef. Masses of starfish create a wall-to-wall living tapestry and schools of jack and ocean whitefish are found sweeping across the ledges. Due to the conditions and the depths, this site is only for advanced divers. Pick a calm day and plan your dive carefully.
|
|
|
