San Miguel Island
Channel Islands National Park · near Santa Barbara / Ventura · Central Coast
Scuba & Snorkel
At a glance
- Difficulty
- technical
- Depth
- 100
- Water temperature
- 52–62°F · drysuit territory
- Best season
- Narrow calm windows, late summer/fall
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No dive permit. The westernmost, wildest, and most weather-battered Channel Island — full of pinniped rookeries and pounded by open ocean. Only accessible in rare calm windows, by liveaboard. Cold, current-swept, and remote: for experienced/technical divers only.
What is here
- Marine life
- Massive pinniped rookeries · Pristine, cold, clear water · Big pelagics & schooling fish · Untouched kelp & reef
- Features
- The wildest Channel Island · Enormous seal & sea lion rookeries · Pristine, cold, clear water · Advanced/technical wilderness diving
Worth knowing
- Certification required
- Yes
- Dogs
- Not permitted
- Good for a first timer
- No
Scuba & Snorkel detail
- Dive type
- scuba
- Entry
- boat
- Viz
- 40–100 ft (when calm)
- Intl tip
- The most remote, weather-dependent Channel Island — liveaboard only, and only in rare calm windows. Cold, current-swept, exposed: for experienced/technical divers. Drysuit territory. The pinniped rookeries are staggering. Most trips that aim for San Miguel get weathered out — flexibility is essential. A true expedition dive.
The guide
San Miguel is the westernmost and wildest of the Channel Islands — a remote, fog-shrouded, wind-hammered outpost at the far end…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to San Miguel Island — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 34.033, -120.37