Riverside Diving

Scuba diving in Riverside

Riverside is known for its diversity in diving opportunities. It is the county seat of Riverside County and its location near Los Angeles and Santa Catalina Island makes it even more interesting for diving as it gives an even wider choice of dive sites. Some of the best diving offered by the Southern California is located near shores and there's abundant sea life.

Always dive according to your level of training.
Never enter the water without checking with Riverside dive centers for safety, additional information, level required for each dive site and without being accompanied by a professional.
All the information provided is purely informative for our readers and shouldn't be used as is to plan your immersion.

Average annual temperature: Between 21°C and 32°C (70° F and 91° F)
Coldest time: December
Warmest time: July
Possible to dive all year round.

As part of the Southern California; Riverside is famous for its variety of dive sites. You can dive the famous Kelp forests of California in The Channel Islands, which is home to many kinds of underwater life hiding in it. Also you may enjoy Catalina Island's shore and boat diving. There are kelp forests and reefs. Encounters with sharks arenot rare.

Some dive sites near Riverside.

Santa Catalina is one of the best diving destinations in California. The colorful nature and the diversity of marine life are very unique in this area. It is famous for its kelp forests which are home to a huge diversity of small fish. If you are looking for a new adventure try shark diving, the island is famous for having a few species of sharks. These are some of the dive sites of Catalina Island: Seamount is a beautiful reef site. It is at a depth of 65 feet (20 meters) with great visibility can reach 100 feet (30 meters). This colorful reef is covered with egg cowrie shells, keyhole limpets also blacksmiths and sheepheads inhabit the area.

Garibaldi Reef is another reef site. It is famous for its kelp forests and the diversity of aqua life. The site is at a depth of 50 feet (15 meters) and the visibility is about 65 feet (20 meters). You can see blue and red gobies every where on this site, also look for lobsters in its rocky bottom.

Redondo Submarine Canyon is located in Los Angeles area. It is at a depth ranging from 10 to 100 feet (3 to 30 meters). The canyon walls drop off quickly which suits advanced divers. The site is home to blue sharks, decorator crabs, sand stars, and anemones on broken pilings. The site is great for night dives, but be careful no pier diving.

You will find some interesting dive sites in San Diego area. Wreck Alley is one of them. It consists of group artificial reefs. It is at a depth ranging from 65 to 100 feet (20 to 30 meters) and has some of the most famous wrecks in the area like Ruby E, El Rey and the famous HMCS Yukon.