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Cold water kelp forests, sea caves, and wild islands close to California yet worlds apart
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Scuba divers come to the Channel Islands for towering giant kelp, rich rocky reefs, and a strong chance of sea lion buzz bys and giant sea bass encounters. Most sites are accessed by day boat or liveaboard from Ventura and Oxnard, with charter boats running year round trips to Anacapa, Santa Cruz, and the outer islands when conditions allow. Expect cool to cold water, boat entries, and variable visibility that can spike to spectacular on late summer and fall days.
Steep walls, healthy kelp, and inquisitive sea lions make Anacapa a classic Channel Islands dive.
Isolated and wind swept, San Miguel is best reached by liveaboard and rewards experienced divers with cold, nutrient rich water, dense invertebrate covered reefs, and encounters with seals and sea lions.
Just outside Channel Islands Harbor, this mainland breakwater offers relatively easy access to kelp, schooling fish, rays, and playful sea lions, useful as a check out or tune up dive before heading offshore.
The largest island offers varied diving from bull kelp forests at Yellow Banks to sea lion rich reefs near Gull Island and caverns around Diablo Point, with a mix of warm and cool currents that boost biodiversity.
Off Santa Barbara Island, Sutil is a rock stack riddled with above and below water caves that host anemones, nudibranchs, kelpfish, bass, brittle stars, and sea stars for stunning wide angle and macro.
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