California Diving BBS
SoCal Dive Map
California Dive Boat Page
Picture Galleries
Diver Gallery
Diving Weather Cycle


Shel says - It's Just What I Do

Carribean Dive Notes
Funny Dive Stories
Seafood Recipes


California Color
Crescent City. Big Halibut and Gold Patrick's Point Eureka. Want a 12 inch Abalone? The Lost Coast - Delgada Canyon - Radical Diving! Mendocino Elk Has Big Abs Sea Ranch For Many Reasons Fort Ross Russian Outpost Salt Point and Gerstle Cove Reserve Bodega Head... Uh, This Is A Bit Sharky Tomalas Bay. Big Halibut For The Gutsy Point Reyes Drakes Bay with the most walkable beach. The Farralon Islands. About As Wild As It Gets Half Moon Bay - If You Must Pidgin Point - Just For The Fun Of It Ano Neuvo Island - Shark Central Grey Hound Rock - Radical Santa Cruz - Because It's So Special Monterey Is Nice Monestary Has Monster Berrys Big Sur Jade Cove Piedras Blancas Cayucas Morro Bay Point Buchon And Montagne De Oro Point Sal - Land Of Mountain Waves Point Arguello Point Conception and Jalama Beach Refugio El Capitan City College, Santa Barbara Santa Claus Lane, Carpenteria - The Bank Ventura Highway County Line, Leo Carillo Point Dume, Zuma Beach Malibu Santa Monica Bay Palos Verdes The Oil Rigs - Unlimited Beauty Laguna Dana Point Del Mar and Solana Beach La Jolla Point Loma and Wreck Alley San Miguel Island - A Primeval place Santa Rosa Island - The Prettiest Diving Santa Cruz Island - The Biggest Anacapa Island - The Closest Santa Barbara Island - A Jewel San Nicolas Island And Begg Rock - The Harshest Santa Catalina Island - The Place San Clemente Island - Clear And Easy Horese Shoe Kelp - Wide Open Diving Matterhorn - If You Need A Challenge Osborn Banks - Deeply Beautiful Tanner Banks - Unique Cortes Banks - Way Out There Coronodo Islands - Because They Are There.



Charles says - What Were You Thinking???
Finally
Transition To A New Human Ecology

Human Genetic and Moral Adaptation for Long Term Survival

Did You Ever Think That
We Could Go The Way
Of The Dinosaurs?

Philosophy Links

I Had A Thought. It hurt. Morality Bits

Email Me Your Comments



CopyRight @ 1997

A Good Place to Start

  • Shores
  • A Time To Dive - The Raider
  • The San Mateo Coast - A Coffee Table Book
  • Abalone - Mother of Pearl -- Sorta cool.
  • North Coast Gallery - By Eric
  • The Mel Hunter - Big Lobster, Big Fish
  • California Dive Videos
  • Santa Cruz Island on the Emerald. Good pics.
  • Anacapa Easy
  • Catalina Cruisin'
  • Do The Tuna
  • Long Cool Catalina Night
  • Panorama Images of the San Francisco Area
  • Panorama Images of Catalina
  • Foggy New Year Lobster Dive with Mel - 12.5 lb. Bug.
  • Sea Ranch 08. The Height of Summer
  • Getting There Can Be Half The Fun
  • Santa Rosa Lobster Dive
  • Cat Night -- Catalina Lobster Diving.
  • Time To Dive
  • This web site is basically for a few purposes. If you are visiting California and want to know where to dive and what to expect, this should tell you in detail. If you like to read about diving, this is an excellent collection of dive stories by myself and many others who have contributed stories from California and around the world. If you want to find out anything about California Diving, it should be in here somewhere. There are a number of photo galleries as well. Most of all, this site is to celebrate the fun, beauty and wonder of diving.
    It has been created over a period of many years and so the style of the essays has changed greatly over time. ... My writing has certainly improved. There is a line put in below that shows the most recent essays. That's a good place to start if you are new to the site. I'll mark a few of the best reports in bold or start here, Sea Ranch Diving '05 or this recent one with videos and big bugs - Foggy New Year Lobster Dive with Mel - 12.5 lb. Bug.
    This is a collection of great diving stories. Before the web, to tell this story, you would have needed to publish a book, which would never have come close to making a profit. Now these stories can be published on the web for people to enjoy at no cost. There is something new and special about that. Anyone who wants can enjoy what we experienced.

    If you are coming to California and want to try the diving, here are some essays that should give you the information you need. If it's not here, it's in another essay.

  • San Francisco Bay Area and Monterey
  • Southern California and Santa Barbara
  • San Diego
  • California Diving Weather Cycle
  • Notes About California Charter Boat Diving
  • 3-Day Swell Map
  • California Diver Network


  • There is more below, including local useful links, photo galleries, a complete California Coastal Diving Guide and far more information about California diving.

    If you have a dive story or photos that you think belong here, please Send Me Your Comments

    The California Diving Links page is a very complete list of links to ocean weather sites, California Diving Web Sites, some Diving Retailers and various California Park or Marine Services. It also contains links to other sites that have dive stories. The other link page points to some of the fantastic diving beyond the California horizon. Click here to get information and schedules for most any California Dive Boat.

    With eight offshore islands and about 1000 miles of shoreline, there is an awful lot of diving available. The cool nutrient rich waters produce a lushness of life matched almost no where else. It is some of the best diving in the world.

    California diving is different from most other places and created a different kind of diver. It is fairly cold water, which promotes lush growth and makes more physical demands on the divers. Because of the cold water and because the Sea Otter was almost removed from California, game became incredibly abundent. In the early days of diving, most California divers were hunters. This made for very dynamic, skilled divers, many using very old hunting instincts to adapt and move as predators of the underwater reefs, not just as visitors. For divers like this, whose instincts are liberated and enervated by the underwater realm, the vast exotic diving of California becomes an endless adventure and inspiration. It is their natural place. The concept of taking continuing scuba classes to get more comfortable diving, is a bizarre idea to them. How do you become more comfortable in your own home? They have little interest in equipment, because the most important element of their diving is the diver, not the gear. Actually, what I try to describe here, diving as an exciting adventure, can be true of divers anywhere. There are adventurers who enter the water many places, but California diving has promoted this more than anywhere else.

    One other thing about California Diving. When cold water diving, you do not have to be quite as careful of the bottom life as in the warm water. Coral is incredibly fragile. Algae is among the fastest growing plants in the world. It is never good to be careless about it, but pulling along the bottom by grabbing rocks or kelp holdfasts, does minimal damage in the colder waters and allows the diver a completely different way to move through the reef. Often the diver ends up in places that are actually too confined for really swimming.

    Some people know the spots. You have to be a gutsy diver to go where this guy goes.

    While I am trying for the most accurate stories I can get, some may sound pretty incredible. That is why they are in here though. That is why we dive too. When diving, sometimes we are lucky enough to see the incredible.

    I hope that you enjoy reading this.

    California Diving Lore

  • You Can Never Go Home - Dr. Samual Miller III

  • Q&A with Dr. Samual Miller about the history of diving

  • "Technical Diving" - The Beginning - By Kevin
  • From California - This Is What I Wrote

  • Introduction
  • California Coastal Diving - Southern and Introduction
  • California Coastal Diving - Central
  • California Coastal Diving - North Coast
  • The Kelp Hiway
  • Poems by The Lady From The Sea
  • A Divers Poem
  • Mists
  • The Sea Dream - Diving Santa Monica Breakwall
  • A Dive Poem by Sea Witch
  • The Channel Islands of California
  • Legendary Diving
  • Breathing
  • Seaweed And Kelp
  • California Reef Ecology and Game
  • California Spear Fishing
  • Lobster Hunting
  • Do Your Pets Miss You When You Dive?
  • California Game Management
  • 20 Some California Seafood Recipes
  • King Fish - Giant Black Seabass
  • Waves I have known
  • Tidepools I Have Known
  • Diving The Front Side
  • Rough Water Diving
  • Small Boat
  • California Diving In The 70's
  • Tuna Fishing
  • To Live and Dive
  • Catalina Dive With The Guppys
  • Ambivelence With The Guppys
  • Links To California Sites and Other Selected Good Pages
  • When Mel wants a lobster, he goes and gets it.

  • Me - New Picture
  • A 70's Dive Story - The SeaBee
  • A Time To Dive - The SeaBee
  • A Pristine Dive - Santa Rosa Island
  • Free Diving - Malibu Area
  • Santa Cruz Island on the Emerald. Good pics.
  • A Time To Dive - Aloha
  • A Time To Dive - The Golden Doubloon
  • Big Bugs at San Nic on the Golden Doubloon
  • Monastery Beach - Watch It
  • Cannery Row - The Monterey Crawl
  • Greyhound Rock - Nasty Dive
  • Santa Cruz Area
  • Got High On A Reef
  • When You Can't Dive...
  • Pidgin Point
  • How About A Mavericks Dive
  • Bodega Bay - Pristine Beauty
  • Windmill Cove, Bodega Bay Abalone Dive
  • NorthCoast - Abalone
  • Fort Ross
  • North Coast - Above Water
  • The Peace - Like No Other
  • Talcott Shoal - Santa Rosa
  • Cortes Banks - Out There Nowhere
  • A Time To Dive - Truth Aquatics
  • The Boilers - San Nic
  • The Badlands - San Nic
  • An Invitation To The Truth
  • Shark Point - The Peace at San Nicolas
  • A Time To Dive - The Wild Wave
  • Bouncing For Bugs At San Nic
  • A Time To Dive - The Animals
  • Begg Rock - Way Out There
  • Osborne Banks - And Yet Even More Obscure
  • A Time To Dive - Dive Boat Peace
  • The Island Breaker - My Hole In The Water...
  • Shark Park - The Truth at San Miguel
  • Shark Party - Jalama
  • Land Of Mountain Waves - Point Sal
  • Storm Central - Point Buchon
  • Central Coast Adventures With Dale
  • Hitchen A Ride To Piedros Blancas
  • Central Coast - Above Water
  • Night Crawler - It's a Stealth Mission
  • Ship Rock - Catalina
  • The Huntress - My Balloon On The Water
  • The Sewer Pipe - San Diego
  • Wreck Alley - The Ruby E On The Lois Ann
  • Night Fall With One Eyed Jack - San Diego
  • Back To San Nic
  • Abalone Diving With Dive Crazys
  • Diving The Oil Rigs On The Great Escape
  • Gerstle Cove
  • Sea Ranch 2001 trip. Big Abs
  • Do It In The Darkness - Catalina
  • Back To The Cortes Banks
  • La Jolla Cove With Pics
  • Catalina Frontside
  • Sea Ranch 2002 - Dive 1 - Evening In The Slot
  • Sea Ranch 2002 - Dive 2 - Abs At Van Damme
  • Sea Ranch 2002 - Dive 3 - Colby Reef
  • Sea Ranch 2002 - Dive 4 - Smuggler's Cove
  • The Yukon
  • The Ruby E
  • Point Loma Kelp Beds
  • Palos Verdes Night
  • Hunting Lobster on the Peace at Talcott Shoal, Santa Rosa Island
  • Night Diving The Venice Beach Fishing Reefs
  • Catalina Tired Diving
  • Yukon Morning
  • Beautiful Dive On The NOS Tower In San Diego
  • A Time To Dive - The Raider
  • The Beautiful Diving of the Oil Rigs
  • A Time To Dive - My Time - Day One In Mendocino
  • Day Two In Mendocino
  • Day Three In Mendocino
  • Mendocino Dive Camp Scrapbook
  • Good Catalina Night, Bad SBI Day
  • Something Different - The San Pedro Breakwall
  • Fire Boats
  • Lobster Season Closer
  • Talcott Shoal, Santa Rosa Island
  • Sea Ranch Diving '05
  • Catalina Night Dive 05
  • Windy Visit to Santa Rosa Island For Fun and Lobster
  • Bodega Head Wide Picture
  • Wreck Alley Dive, The Yukon and Ruby E
  • Long Cool Catalina Night
  • Anacapa Easy
  • Sea Ranch 08. The Winds of Spring
  • Sea Ranch 08. The Fogs of Autumn
  • Sea Ranch 08. The Height of Summer
  • Sea Ranch 08. The spray of Winter
  • Foggy New Year Lobster Dive with Mel - 12.5 lb. Bug.
  • The San Mateo Coast - A Coffee Table Book
  • Getting There Can Be Half The Fun
  • Santa Rosa Lobster Dive
  • Abalone - Mother of Pearl -- Sorta cool.
  • Cat NightCatalina Lobster Diving.
  • Time To Dive
  • California Dive Videos
  • A Sea of Sand - Pismo Beach
  • Zuma - Where it all started
  • Dume... Deep


  • Whatever is listed just above this line was my last dive report.

  • They Have No Concept Of Sport Diving
  • Should Not Have Gone Out That Day
  • Stupidity Can Be Funny
  • I Know That The Bottom Is Here Somewhere
  • Why I Dive
  • Meetings - This Should Be Cool
  • My Idea Of Dive Tips - Picture
  • Flame The Industry
  • Lets try an older picture here... Joe, Sheldon and company have been picking on the bugs again.

    Carribean Diving and Beyond

  • Dive Cabo - The Gordo Banks - by seahunt

  • Click here for photos and stories from my 5 day trip to Belize.
  • Belize - Day 1
  • Belize - Day 2
  • Belize - Day 3
  • Belize - Day 4
  • Belize - Day 5


  • Florida - Overview
  • Boynton Beach With LoggerHead Divers
  • Boynton Beach With SplashDown Divers
  • On to the Key Largo and Pennecamp Park
  • Diving the Duane with Conch Republic Divers
  • Diving for Lobster with Conch Republic Divers
  • Diving West Palm Beach - By Steve Boswell


  • Back To Boynton
  • Bahamas Vis
  • Bahamas MoreVis


  • Diving Deerfield Beach, FL with the DiverLink Crowd
  • California and Pacific West Coast Tales
  • San Clemente Island Diving - By Richard Jones. Nice pics.
  • Redondo Canyon Deep Reefs w/ Scubapro5 - By Ross O. This is different.
  • Gillyweed_girl and scubadobadoo finally check out Catalina . A Great Dive Guide.
  • Shark Diving with Catalina Scuba Luv - By Elaine Jobin
  • The Sea Divers visit San Miguel Island on the Peace - By Elaine Jobin
  • Diving the wreck of the Star of Scotland - By Jim Lyle
  • Sixteen Nudes and a Shipwreck - By Jim Lyle
  • California Dives - By Chris Grossman
  • Great California Diving Web Site With Essays And Pics By Brad
  • The Best Way Visit San Nicolas Island - by Brad
  • Images of Farnsworth Bank and Catalina - by Eric S.
  • Some Underwater Images of Monterey - by Eric S.
  • Fisk Mill Dive - by Eric S.
  • Diving The North Coast - by Eric S.
  • Albion Cove - by Eric S.
  • Colby Reef - by Eric S.
  • Delgada Canyon - by Eric S. and Buddies
  • Saturday Night Live at Leo Carillo - by Doug Dubick
  • Diving It Softly In Monterey - By John Rice
  • The Beauty Of Point Lobos - By Brian Correiar
  • Diving - Definately For The Fun Of It - By Todd Hancock aka. NapaDiver
  • Friday Night Bug Hunt on The Great Escape - by Mike Brennan
  • Cold Day With the Sea Lions at Santa Cruz Island - by Mike Brennan
  • OK Day At The Rigs - by Mike Brennan
  • Deep Dive Of Whimsey With Captain Nemo- by seahunt
  • I Will Never Do This Again - By Michael aka. SDSailor
  • Really Fun Dive - By Michael aka. SDSailor
  • How To Get Big Abs - By Raider Karl
  • Now tell me if there has ever happened to you: - By Kevin
  • Wreck Hunting in California - By Kevin
  • Ordinance Diving - By Kevin
  • Ed and Kevin's Excellent Adventure at Anacapa - By Kevin and Edwin
  • Lake Kaweah - By Terry May
  • Underwater Fireworks of Santa Barbara Island - By Terry May
  • Diving The Pacific Northwest By Pablo Pizarro
  • Comments
  • Some Happy Campers


    The Hunters - Well, a little bit more so anyway.

  • The Lobster Hunter. Shel's Page
  • The Mel Diver Page - It's all for the fun of it.
  • Do The Tuna
  • This Is What They Told Me
  • Neptunes Dive Club. Great pics.

  • Beyond Sport Diving

  • DIR For Recreational Divers by Michael Kane
  • The Matterhorn by Michael Kane
  • What They Didn't Tell You About Dive Gear by Jim Hoffman

  • Picture Gallery - A Variety Of Photographs From The Sea..

  • North Coast Gallery - By Eric
  • Jim Lyles Extrordinary Images From The Eureka Oil Platform
  • Panorama Images of the San Francisco Area
  • Panorama Images of Catalina
  • Just Some Nice Pictures
  • North Coast Images By Eric Sedletzky
  • Bugs! A gallery of 65 Lobster pictures
  • Extrordinary Images Of Wreck Alley From The Camera Of Alan Shepard
  • Sea Ranch 2000 Editors Trip
  • New Sunset Page
  • Some Pictures That Just Needed Showing
  • Check Out The New Rig Pics
  • Check Out More New Rig Pics
  • The Ruby E On The Lois Ann
  • The Beautiful Diving of the Oil Rigs - Lots of pics.

  • Here is a link to an excellent photo site.
  • Great Underwater Photography of California by Joe Balanger
  • California Diving Web Sites
    Chris Grossman's California Divers Network

  • Diver Net
  • The California Diving Bulletin Board
  • Comprehensive Links To Dive Equipment Manufacturers
  • Incredible Collection Of Information On California Dive Boats


  • Other Good California Web Sites
  • The Extraordinary Underwater Images of Elaine Jobin - 2004
  • The Extraordinary Underwater Images of Elaine Jobin - 2005
  • The Beautiful Cold Water Images of Kawiki
  • Otto's Dive Log
  • Seaschralped: Adventures in So. California Skin Diving
  • The Metridium Fields is about Monterey Diving, as told with stunning images
  • Check Out ScubaBums If You Are Diving San Diego
  • Scuba San Francisco - Great Site With Lots Of Info On Northern California Diving
  • Monterey Diving - Another Good Site
  • Love Of Sea - Brad's Site... If you Love the Sea, check it out
  • Monterey Diving - Good Site
  • Santa Barbara Alps
  • Matt's Coastal Guide. It's Good.
  • California Shoreline Photos
  • Photography by Chris Menjou
  • Photography by Phillup Colla
  • Judy's Great Photography and Slide Shows
  • Ross O's Great Photos
  • Aqua Images
  • DIS UK Diving
  • AUE Mike's Fascinating Site - AUE Theater
  • California Scuba Diving
  • CaliforniaDiving.com
  • Captain Bob Bates Great Dive Site
  • Scuba Doc Dive Medicine Site
  • Chuck Tribolet's Northern California Dive Web Site
  • Divebum's Underwater Videos
  • SoCAl Dive Videos
  • The Aqua Planet
  • From Beyond California - These are Great Stories

  • In Search of the Red Demon - by Scott Cassell
  • Dive Around The World - Wakatobi - by Jim Lyle *
  • Dive Around The World - Komodo - by Jim Lyle *
  • Dive Around The World - Indian Ocean - by Jim Lyle *
  • Trip Report: Micronesia - by Steve Schalk *
  • Manta Ray Diving in Yap - by Steve Schalk
  • Ulong Channel, Palau by Steve Schalk - Great Story *
  • Trip Report: Bikini - by David Hale
  • Trip Report: Kwajalein - by David Hale
  • Just Another Day In Paradise - Marshall Islands - By Tim Gernold
  • I Snorkel - by Susan Wyatt
  • Caymen Island Dives - Anonymous
  • Superior Dive, Lake Superior That Is - by Keith Stillabower
  • Recollections Of The Australian Night by Matt
  • Good Dive, Better Dive
  • Interesting Days At Cape Cod by Ed Cook
  • The Passage - Beauty and Movement in B.C. by JudyG
  • The Way It Was, Baja by Marc
  • The Wet 'n' Wild - By Michael Roberts aka. Salty Dog
  • Sucking Snails - By Michael Roberts aka. Salty Dog
  • Moments on the Water - By Michael Roberts aka. Salty Dog
  • A Different Kind of Diving - By Seahorse
  • Train Diving in Great Britian - By Denise Frier aka. Den
  • A Bad Day of Diving... Can Still Be Pretty Good - By Denise Frier aka. Den
  • Shark Dive - By Victor Kanevsky aka. Wrasse
  • Have To Remember Coz - By Davida aka. Dee
  • Dive in the Water. Swim with the Sharks - By Russell Jacobs
  • The Adventures Of Hoghead - By Don DeMaria
  • Dive in the Water. Swim with the Porpoises - By Doug Sololl aka. SeaSniffer
  • Sharks, Sharks, We Want Sharks - By Shea Grimm
  • Big John - Exteme Diver
  • April 1 Dive Report - Andrea Doria - By Diver Dave
  • Paulie (from the Sopranos) goes diving - By Arty Skye aka. Sawtooth
  • A ZILLION Diving Links To Everywhere (Some are old)
  • Go For A Cave Dive With Ron Bear
  • Bozell Springs Cave - By Ron Bear
  • Way Down In Twin Cave - By Ron Bear
  • Madison Blue and Peacock Caves - By Ron Bear
  • Jackson Blue And Surveying A Cave Underwater - By Ron Bear
  • Gadsden Cave, I Presume - By Ron Bear
  • Gadsden Cave, I Presume - By Ron Bear
  • Monz Cave kicked My Butt - By Ron Bear
  • You Can Even Dive Missouri - By Brock Fredericks aka. sealforvr
  • Visit The Fantastic Diving Of The Cocoos Islands With El Buzo
  • Part1 - Adventures In The Cocos Island - By Christian Bendfeldt
  • Part2 - To Get To Paradise You Have To Go Through Hell... - By Christian Bendfeldt
  • Part3 - Reef Hook.... Ha.... Take Your "Cojones" With You - By Christian Bendfeldt
  • Part4 - More Diving Highlights - By Christian Bendfeldt
  • Part5 - A Visit To Treasure Island And Final Thoughts - By Christian Bendfeldt


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