Scuba Diving Trips in San Diego

Regina Edwards, Leaf Group

The waters along southern California coast range in temperature from 60 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the season. Diving in San Diego enhances a diver's experience with varied cold-water environments and conditions, with most dive sites accessible by a short boat ride. Explore the unique underwater habitats around San Diego, featuring garibaldi, giant sea bass, sheer cliffs, sunken ships, expansive kelp forests and colonies of lobster.


Dive boats are required to access reefs along the southern California coast, but the boat rides are not long, so divers can access several sites during a day trip. The north and south Coronado Islands (Los Coronados) provide underwater coves and walls to observe garibaldi, the bright orange state fish. Giant black sea bass also travel along the reefs, startling divers with their immense size. The dive sites around Point Loma offer a variety of underwater environments, notably kelp forests, sheer walls (underwater cliffs) and caverns. Water enthusiasts enjoy traveling to Catalina Island for local attractions, boating events and diving. Novice dive sites used for scuba training can be accessed as shore dives north of the city. La Jolla Shores (an Ecological Reserve) offers a number of protected areas for novice divers, local diving orientation and refresher courses while attracting native marine life such as rockfish, perch, bat rays and sea lions.

Kelp Forests

The kelp beds comprise a unique cold-water environment for snails, crabs, nudibranchs, shrimp and kelp fish. These habitats flourish in the cooler Pacific waters, notably around Point Loma. Divers exploring the underwater forests don't need to dive beyond 60 to 80 feet to enjoy the kelp forest. While visibility improves around the kelp forest, exercise caution when diving to avoid entanglement.

Wreck Dives

Off the coast of Mission Bay lies a series of sunken naval ships and towers that create a series of artificial reefs, known as [Ship] Wreck Alley. These artificial reefs contain sea anenomes (including cold-water metridium anenome); nudibranchs; ribbon eels; groupers. Wrecks are only accessible by dive boats that anchor to permanent mooring buoys with ascent/descent lines that mark the sites. Under good water conditions, divers with at least 10 cold-water dives or advanced open-water diver certification should consider joining a group or taking wreck-diver training to explore these historical dive sites. Popular sites in Wreck Alley (and depth): Yukon (decommissioned naval destroyer at 105 feet); Ruby E (decommissioned Coast Guard cutter at 85 feet); El Rey (decommissioned barge at 90 feet); the Tower (Naval Electronics Lab at 60 feet).

Lobster Hunting

Lobster hunting season opens in early October and runs through mid-March. Each diver with a fishing license, keeper net and measuring gauge can catch up to seven California spiny lobsters per day (by hand). Special dive trips during this season create a convivial atmosphere, because "bug hunting" locations and techniques are prized secrets among captains and dive masters. Since lobsters are nocturnal creatures, divers can examine crevices along walls for lobster dens during the day and seek active lobsters during a night dive.





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