Channel Island Visibility

Has anyone got any idea of typical dive conditions for the channel islands in the winter, Jan/Feb? I'll be taking a class of students for snorkeling out there, thanks!

Hello Teacher,

Welcome to ScubaBoard! I teach fourth and fifth grade science. I would expect about 30 feet of visibility on average with sea surface temps around 60F. Winter is the best time to go for visibility - it could get up to 50 feet or more - but it will be chilly!

John

I used to live in Ventura and dive the islands quite a bit. Wet Rat's right, visibility should be great, you'll get a bit of murk if the rains come. Late Feb. is usually the rainy season.

Which Islands will you be diving? The waters get cooler as you move North, but the diving is much better in my opinion. What kind of class are you taking out?

I am simply a U.S History teacher, but for the last 3 yrs I have taken kids to the islands for camping, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, we go climbing at Joshua Tree etc etc. This yrs trip to Santa Barbara I took a couple spearfishing. You may get a kick out of the rules I set up. 4 shots each, the calico had to be more than 14 inches in length and you had to descend at least 10 feet to make the shot. None of them had weights or experience. Needless to say no one got a fish. So 30 of them like underwater photo and 4 of them now want to try catch a bug or spearfish.

We'll see how it goes. We need to find a boat, best place to go etc etc.