San Diego has an active scuba diving community, with many exciting places to dive in San Diego and La Jolla California.
December 17 2011 last update for Scuba Diving San Diego.
Scuba diving in San Diego is very popular in La Jolla inside the San Diego-La Jolla Underwater Park. It is also popular at Point Loma, Wreck Alley, and in north San Diego county at the Encinitas Marine Life Refuge.
Scuba Diving La Jolla Underwater Park
Visibility is typically 15 - 20 feet in La Jolla, the most popular area for San Diego scuba diving. The San Diego La Jolla Underwater Park has thick kelp forests, calm and clear waters, and abundant sea life. The Leopard Sharks are famous here in the summer, and sometimes the seals will join in the fun. There are local dive shops for renting scuba gear.
Advanced divers can explore other sites, including the La Jolla Submarine Canyon and Scripps Canyon. These are some of the most-studies undersea environments in the world, close to the world-famous Scripps Institute of Oceanography and Scripps Pier.
The waters off Point Loma in San Diego Cal. offer an abundant undersea life to explore. Scuba dive boat operators who can take you to offshore dives, as most of the Point Loma dives will be from a boat. You can take a San Diego dive tour to the Kelp Beds or Ancient Sea Cliffs.
Wreck Alley Scuba Diving San Diego Wreck Alley
Advanced divers will enjoy Wreck Alley, about a mile off Mission Beach. Here are artificial reefs created by sunken ships and other structures, including the Canadian destroyer Yukon, Rube E Coast Guard cutter, kelp cutter Del Ray, Ingraham Strret bridge, and more. Charter boats from Mission Bay will take you there. Most of these are 70 - 100 feet down so advanced certification is required.
San Diego Scuba Diving Encinitas Marine Life Refuge
And in North County, consider the Encinitas Marine Life Refuge between Swami's point and D street. The shallow reefs are abundant with kelp. This area is not as well protected as La Jolla Cove, so you'll want a day with calm water as the surf can be rough (that's why it's a famous surfing spot!)
Divebums is a San Diego dive website with great information about San Diego dive spots, local diving conditions, such as which sites are best to scuba San Diego at certain tide conditions. They also have great scuba dive photos taken by local divers. Visit them on their website at San Diego Divebums
Another great website for insights about scuba diving and scuba diving vacations is Scuba Diving Place
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