Most dives are next to the island in depths from a few feet to about 60 feet. It is possible to do deeper dives but not required. The boats stay anchored during the dive using both a bow anchor in front and a stern anchor behind. Each dive lasts about an hour or less depending on the divers air consumption. There are typically three or four dives per day.
Some spots offer kelp forests, walls, and pinnacles.
Hundreds of plants and small animals share the reefs with many varieties of fish including kelp bass, sheephead and garibaldi. It is not unusual to spot sea lions, seals, lobster, bat rays, horn sharks, moray eels, and occasionally giant black sea bass as well as blacksmith perch, sardines, mackerel, anchovies, and other small schooling fish. It is almost impossible not to ask how things will be for the day we choose to dive, even when we know how uncertain predictions are. Water temperature is coldest from February to May varying between 52 and 58 degrees. From June to September it will range from 60 to as high as 70 then slowly begin to drop.