Boat Diving Northern vs. Southern Channel Islands?

[drrich2]

Hi:

There was no option to post just in 'California;' I had to pick a subforum - northern or southern. Ironic given my question; when considered as a destination for an out-of-stater planning a boat diving trip only, how do you guys consider the Northern vs. Southern Channel Islands of California to compare?

I'm not asking to decide where to go; I've already booked a 5 day limited load trip to the Southern. I'm interested in making a 'general interest' thread in case others are trying to decide between the 2. I say boat diving because a multi-day live-aboard (e.g.: Truth Aquatics) offers an excellent total trip cost (vs. a hotel & paying for day boats) plus a lot of diving, in a convenient package. It also dodges the issue of comparative difficulty of shore dive entry/exit, and focuses on a readily comparable set of similar options, the islands.

When I was researching for my trip, it seemed like an easy decision; a group of islands clustered in a large, rough geographical area, cold water diving but warmer in the southern islands, and you can find kelp there to so...why would anybody prefer the northern? But I noticed quite a # of trips hit the northern islands.

So I asked in this thread, Northern Channel Islands; Spring Break Trip w/Truth Aquatics, why Elgoog picked north. The answer was timing, but Merxlin then posted:

"The Northern Islands typically have lower viz and cooler temps, but more varied marine life. The Southern Islands (Catalina and San Clemente) vary quite a bit from them. Clemente can be beautiful and Catalina is in the throws of a horrendous growth of sargassum (invasive seaweed) that is covering most of the structure. My choice for multiday trips would always be the Northern Islands. If you can get to Santa Barbara Island (which is kind of in between the two ) on either trip- you will have more sea lions than you can count."

I don't recall a specific 'the North vs. the South' Channel Islands face off before, so I want to know - what do the rest of you think? Got a preference (for boat diving only)? Why?

Richard.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

The invertebrate life is greater at the Northern Channel Islands but weather and sea conditions can keep the boats away from San Miguel Island sometimes. The Southern Islands are usually a bit warmer and can have better visibility, especially San Clemente Island. Anacapa/Santa Cruz are closer to the mainland so you get to spend more time there compared to Catalina. BTW, all of the Channel Islands are in SoCal. I've always considered everything south of Pt. Conception to be SoCal, north to Santa Cruz as the Central Coast and the Bay Area to the Oregon Border as NorCal.

 

[drrich2]

Thanks; good to know.

What invertebrate life tends to be noticeably more abundant in the northern islands? Nudibranchs, sea stars, crustaceans, all of the above? Is it #'s of individuals or #'s of species?

Richard.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

A few different nudibranchs than found along the mainland and southern islands and large anemones typical of the central coast to Alaska.