Hello:
Can anyone give a comparison of diving between different channel islands like San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Ana Capa, San Clemente, Catalina etc? Is there a lot of variation in the terrain and marine life or doing one equals doing any other?
I have always been curious about the dives there and I am looking forward to exploring that area.
Most of the marine animals are the same, but there would be differences in concentrations of one or more types of animals than others because of the colder or warmer temperature.
In my experience as a layman, San Clemente and Santa Catalina are very similar to each other. Water tends to be warmer with similar terrain. Though these islands are so big that one dive site can be vastly different than another dive site. For example, Little Farnsworth dive site at the east end of Catalina is deep and chilly with lots of more exotic nudibranchs than a typical front side Catalina dive site. Farnsworth at the back side of Catalina is deep, current swept and way the heck away from the island with great fields of purple hydrocorals and better than average visibility. Also it seems to me that Catalina is more populated with the giant black seabass - our local version of the gentle giant.
I have never been to San Nicholas so I have no idea what it's like out there.
Santa Barbara is a small island but also has very diversified terrain/topography. Water isn't as cold as the Northern Channel Islands even though it's way out there in the ocean. Because it's fairly unprotected, the water movement could be pretty rough. You can find white metridium anemones there in limited numbers growing underneath ledges. Lots of nudibranchs of all sorts, and purple hydrocoral at less than 60-ft depth. Visibility tends to be better than average SoCal. It also hosts a large sea lion rookery.
The Northern Channel Islands are Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa and San Miguel in that order:
Anacapa is warm, slightly colder than Catalina but not by much. Front side is nice because it's a protected area. Back side is fairly barren and infested with sea urchins. The back side also has a large sea lion rookery.
Santa Cruz is a large island and the further end is considerably different from the closer end. Water also start to get a bit colder.
Santa Rosa is the other large island and at the further end you start to see thicker kelp forests that tend to be farther away from the island. Water also get a bit colder than Santa Cruz. Start to creep into the lower 50-Fs.
San Miguel is way the heck out there and most of the time the boats can't make the trip because of high wind or high sea. Water is decidedly colder, ranging from high 40-Fs to low 50-Fs. Abundant kelp because of the cold water. Anemones tend to be brighter in color and more abundant, especially with the strawberry and purple anemones. More colorful starfish. You also start seeing more of the white metridium anemones as well. Many nudibranchs of all sizes, shapes and colors. Extremely thick and lush kelp forests. More game size fish for the hunters, especially the vermillion rock fish and lingcod. Not as many Garibaldis as the closer islands though.
Maybe it's just me, but when it comes to "dramatic" topography, I tend to encounter it at either Santa Barbara or San Miguel. Lots of big boulders jutting out and nice depth running from 90-ft to well below 100-ft.
San Clemente conjured up memories of deep dive sites (90-ft +) with towering kelp forests.
