Santa Barbara Island
Channel Islands National Park · near Ventura / San Pedro · Central Coast
Scuba & Snorkel
At a glance
- Difficulty
- advanced
- Depth
- 90
- Water temperature
- 58–68°F · 7mm wetsuit
- Best season
- Summer & fall (crossing needs calm weather)
Permits and booking
- Permit required
- No
- How the permit works
- No dive permit. The smallest, southernmost, and most remote Channel Island — a long boat crossing requiring calm weather; usually a multi-day liveaboard or long-range day charter. For advanced divers comfortable with open-water conditions.
What is here
- Marine life
- Huge sea lion rookery · Some of the clearest water in CA · Black sea bass & pelagics · Sutil Island pinnacle
- Features
- Remote — often the clearest CA water · Massive sea lion colony · Sutil Island offshore pinnacle · Wild, uncrowded 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 (often the clearest)
- Intl tip
- A long, weather-dependent crossing — usually a liveaboard or long-range day boat. For advanced divers only. Late summer/fall offers the calmest crossings and clearest water. Sutil Island's pinnacle is the signature dive. The sea lion rookery is spectacular. Not a casual day trip — plan with an experienced charter operator.
The guide
Santa Barbara Island is the smallest and most remote of the Channel Islands — a lonely mile-square outpost far offshore that re…
In the Guidebook
Everything above is yours for free. The written guide to Santa Barbara Island — what it is actually like, and what we would tell a friend before they went — comes with the Guidebook.
Getting there
- Coordinates
- 33.476, -119.035