Farallon Islands
27 miles off San Francisco · near San Francisco / Half Moon Bay · SF Bay Area
Scuba & Snorkel · Wildlife Watching
At a glance
- Difficulty
- technical
- Depth
- 100
- Water temperature
- 48–58°F · drysuit territory
- Best season
- Rare calm windows (very exposed) · sharks fall
- Best season
- Late spring–fall for whales & seabirds; autumn for white sharks
- Open year round
- No
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- Yes
- How the permit works
- The Farallones are a National Wildlife Refuge / National Marine Sanctuary — landing on the islands is prohibited, and the surrounding waters are a white shark aggregation site in fall. Diving here is expedition-level: 27 miles of open ocean, frigid water, current, and apex predators. Extremely weather-dependent; only a handful of experienced operators. NOT a casual dive — for expert/technical divers on specialized trips only.
What is here
- Marine life
- Vast seal & sea lion colonies · White shark aggregation (fall) · Deep cold-water pinnacles · Wolf eels, rockfish, invertebrates
- Features
- California's wildest offshore dive · Enormous marine mammal colonies · White shark waters (fall) · Expedition-level cold & remote
- Wildlife
- whales · seals-otters · birds
- Species
- Humpback & blue whales, white sharks, tufted puffins, common murres, sea lions
- Amenities
- Offshore whale & seabird trips · Largest US seabird colony (contiguous) · White-shark waters · Naturalist-led boats
- Best for
- A serious offshore pelagic wildlife trip
- Features
- California's 'Galapagos' · Whales & white sharks · Huge seabird colonies · Naturalist boat tours
Worth knowing
- Certification required
- Yes
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
- Hazards
- Long, rough open-ocean crossing · Seasickness very likely · No landing (viewing from boat) · Trips weather-dependent
Scuba & Snorkel detail
- Dive type
- scuba
- Entry
- boat
- Viz
- 10–40 ft
- Intl tip
- Expedition-level only: 27 miles offshore, frigid, current-swept, white shark waters in fall. Landing on the islands is prohibited (protected refuge). Drysuit territory. Only specialized operators run trips, and most attempts get weathered out. For expert/technical divers on purpose-built expeditions — not a casual charter. Understand the risks fully before considering it.
- Nickname
- California's wildest offshore dive
Wildlife Watching detail
- Viewing
- boat
- Effort
- involved
- Habitat
- coast
- Sighting
- 4
- Viewing notes
- A boat trip to California's 'Galapagos' — jagged islands 27 miles offshore ringed by whales, seabird colonies, seals and sea lions, and the famous white sharks
- Intl tip
- California's 'Galapagos' — jagged islands 27 miles beyond the Golden Gate, a wildlife refuge in super-rich waters. No landing, but day-long naturalist boat trips from San Francisco circle them: humpback and blue whales, the largest seabird colony in the contiguous US (puffins, murres, auklets), sea lions and seals, and autumn white sharks. A committing trip — long, often rough crossing, likely seasickness, weather-dependent. Pick a calm forecast, take seasickness precautions, bring warm layers.
The guide
The Farallon Islands — 27 miles beyond the Golden Gate — are California's most extreme dive, a jagged wildlife refuge in the co…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Farallon Islands — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 37.699, -123.002