The largest city in California, Los Angeles remains popular for its fashionable lifestyle and Mediterranean climate. Surrounded by a range of local beaches in the large confines of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles seldom remains unrecognized for its scuba diving and snorkelling. Although its chilly water cannot be ideally considered as an ideal spot for divers to explore the marine life of the Pacific when compared to the neighbouring city of San Diego, it still provides the best diving spots to engage with the very lush marine life and kelp forests. The city with the Hollywood sign, hip lifestyle and natural beaches remain a glamour house for the entire world. But it also provides space for numerous exploratory and liberating activities for the group of tourists seeking an adrenaline rush.
The Los Angeles County with numerous diving sites makes diving and snorkelling popular and available to the locals as well as to the tourists. The Pacific remains rich in coral reefs, kelp forests and other marine life while lining the coasts of Los Angeles County. With many diving schools in Los Angeles offering training, diving gears and guided tours into the ocean, the underwater exploration of the Pacific becomes a once in a lifetime experience. Check out these amazing diving sites to enjoy a seamless diving experience when in the city of Los Angeles.
7 Best Diving Sites in Los Angeles for Scuba Diving in Los Angeles
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A diving spot with concrete stairs descending into the Pacific coastlines, Casino Point is one of the relaxed spots on Catalina Island for taking a plunge into the ocean. Located in the town of Avalon, the point offers you to relax on the ocean’s surface as well as an exciting dive to the amazing kelp beds inhabiting nudibranchs, yellowtails, lobsters, seaweeds and starfishes. The underwater park is located near the world-famous casino building. The 2.5 acres of the park is blooming with marine life like the octopus, small fishes, abalones and moray eels. Make sure to enjoy the amazing diving experience in what is seldom called the Mecca for snorkelers and divers.
Location: 23 Miles from Long Beach - 26 miles from San Pedro Harbour
2. Veteran’s Park, Redondo Beach
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Popular for night dives in Los Angeles, the veteran’s Park dive spot is accessible from Redondo beach. You can walk through the shores into the water with weak currents. The site is suitable for learning purposes as well as for beginner level diving as the mild tides make it easy for the divers but the rich varieties of octopuses, sea stars, shrimps, stingrays, nudibranchs, sarcastic fringe head, baby horn sharks, scorpionfishes and sand dollars make it a worthy dive for everyone. The steep sandy slopes gradually drop into a deep underwater canyon making it once in a lifetime adventure into the ocean.
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The smallest of the eight Channel Islands, Santa Barbara Island is also a State Marine Reserve offering diving depths of 20 to 100 feet into the Pacific. Popular for the Sea lions photobombing your photography, the island is a haven for nature lovers. Enter the water at The Rookery to instantly surround yourselves with Pinnipeds. Another diving spot is the Arch reef which is home to purple hydrocorals, anemones, lacy bryozoans, nudibranchs and various other colourful invertebrates. You can witness spiny lobsters around the cervices apart from the flipping, rolling and twisting sea lions. So, watch out for these sea lions as they with their liquid eyes will surely make your day.
Location: 44 Miles from Redondo Beach
4. Santa Rosa Island
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The westernmost and exposed Island among the Channel Islands, Santa Rosa Island is a favourite diving spot for trained divers with a depth range between 10 to 200 feet. You can access the Island on a boat preferably a larger one to capture some amazing marine lives with your lenses. The island itself remains covered with an assortment of birds, oak groves, foxes, elks and deers. You can easily spot some magnificent marine mammals like Humpbacks and Blue Whales while exploring the waters around the sea exposed land. The dense kelps and nudibranchs await your dive into the depth of Pacific.
Location: 34.3 Miles South West 203' of Santa Barbara
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Largest of the eight Channel Islands, Santa Cruz Island remains the most topographically diverse island in the list. It contains 77 miles of untouched coastlines and inhabits endemic plants and animals along its water. The island with mild diving conditions hosts many underwater caves and caverns providing cave diving opportunities to both the experienced divers and trainees. You can spot a range of whales and dolphins as the water houses their 28 species out of the existing 80. The island also promises a dive to the wrecks of USS Peacock, a world war two minesweeper. Sea stars, chestnut cowries, nudibranchs, barnacles and other creatures now cover the wreck. So, head out for the superior quality photographs that you can take here during your beautiful dive.
Location: 20 Miles South West of Ventura Harbour
6. Santa Catalina Island
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Santa Catalina Island provides some beautiful dive sites offering clean water and dense kelp beds harbouring rich marine lives. It contains limited shore entry but can be easily accessed by boats. You can dive into the diverse depths range of 20 to 130 feet and is, therefore, a haven for both the beginner and advanced divers. If you are diving from the front side of the island which remains sheltered you can capture some amazing underwater photographs while snorkelling with the courtesy of clear water. Farnsworth banks accessed from the exposed backside of Catalina island offer a rich palette of marine life. It is home to the purple hydrocorals and is a beautiful diving spot for the trainees as well as the advanced divers.
Location: 23 Miles from Long Beach - 26 miles from San Pedro Harbour
7. Anacapa Island
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Located 16.7 miles from Ventura Harbour, Anacapa Island can be accessed by boat and is a part of Channel Islands National Park. It provides over 40 diving sites around its area which remains surrounded with steep sea cliffs. With scattered reefs and lush kelp forests, it becomes easy for the divers to make their way through numerous creatures like abalones, nudibranchs, chestnut cowries, blennies, garibaldis and kelp fishes. You can explore the beautiful coral reef and a unique underwater island covered with starfish, rockfish, cabezons and schools of yellowfish. Make sure to be careful if planning to explore away from the boat as the currents can often pick up its pace.
Location: 16.7 miles south-west 183' from Ventura Harbour.
Gear up for a rippling and adventurous dive into the blues of Pacific as you plan your trip to the city of dreams Los Angeles. Consult some of the best diving schools like Eco Dive Centre, Hollywood divers, Blue Holic Scuba, Aloha Dive and Azteca Diving Services to enjoy a safe diving experience or to learn an underwater art of adventure called scuba diving. The city provides the best underwater visibility during the months between July and January, and the calm seas between the months of August and October. So, Next time when you visit Hollywood in Los Angeles, remember that the blue and gorgeous marine awaits you in the Pacific.
