Welcome to San Diego County!
San Diego County has some of the best diving on the West Coast. The sea lions, spiny lobsters, leopard sharks, kelp forests and beautiful weather have been keeping people coming back for generations. In fact, the popularity of spearfishing essentially began in La Jolla and the Scripps Institute of Oceanography has played a tremendous roll in pioneering marine science from its beginning in 1903. As a modern sport, this is where West Coast diving began and these waters, by the standards of the ocean, are well studied and very well loved. Like Monterey Bay, San Diego is a fascinating place in part because the incredibly deep Scripps and La Jolla Canyons are just offshore and all it takes is a prevailing wind to churn up the cold, nutrient-rich waters off the bottom into the sunny photic zone where algae like kelp can grow. Those kelp forests are home to an incredible diversity of species that are accessible by shore or quick boat cruise.
Like most California diving, the best time of year for visibility tends to be late summer to winter but the swell from offshore storms tends to make diving less reliably safe in December and January. Water temperatures ranges from 72F to 55F. You might be able to get away with a shorty if you're planning on snorkeling the shallows of La Jolla Cove in September but a 7mm wetsuit with gloves, boots and a hood are definitely required if you're planning on scuba diving in February or racking up some bottom time.
Wreck Alley One of the most unique features of scuba diving in San Diego are the wreck dives. For decades, the US Navy has scuttled old ships in the near shore shallows of Wreck Alley a mile west of Mission Bay and there are now eight different vessels of various sizes and vintages that have become fixtures in the local scuba diving lore. Because of the abundance of offshore points of interest, there are innumerable dive tours and cruises available to take you out. While this guide does include GPS coordinates for many sites, they have for the most part been pulled from blogs and have not yet been field verified. They are to give the reader a sense of geography and are not intended as guides. Please, hire the professionals for this stuff. They'll get you there safely, reliably and without dropping anchor on a living piece of history.
Dive Tours and Operators Marissa Dive Charters Horizon Shark Charters Waterhorse Charters
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