Santa Barbara offers a great deal of local diving, both off the shore and at the Channel Islands - Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel. The islands are approximately 26 miles from Santa Barbara. Santa Cruz is the largest at about 26x3 miles. Divers most often visit Anacapa and Santa Cruz (weather conditions make it difficult and sometimes impossible to reach the other islands).

The temperature in the waters of Santa Barbara is a chilly 55-62F, making it necessary to wear a full wetsuit. Visibility is often murky - sometimes it's so bad you can't even see your buddy! On a good day of shore diving you can expect the vis to be around 20 feet; at the islands I've seen up to 70 feet.

The biggest attraction to California diving is probably the kelp, which forms beautiful under water forests. Fish are not as colorful or as plentiful as in the Caribbean, but there are lots of small things to see like urchins, anemones, nudibranchs, and cup corals. At the islands there's more to see - sheephead, swell sharks and on most dives, sea lions! Sea lions (the ones with the external ear flaps) can be very playful and like to show off by doing flips right in your face! Be careful about playing with pups - moms can get very protective.