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Anacapa Island - Anacapa CA


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Anacapa Island is a boat accessible salt water dive site, located at Channel Islands National Park, Anacapa, CA. This dive site has an average rating of 3.84 out of 5 from 51 scuba divers.

Accessible from the boats in Ventura Harbor, and probably others.

Anacapa Island is a small volcanic island located about 11 miles (18 km) off the coast of Port Hueneme, California, in Ventura County. The Island is composed of a series of narrow islets six miles long, running in a mostly east-west orientation, five miles east of Santa Cruz Island. The island is composed of three islets: East, Middle and West Anacapa, collectively known as the “Anacapas” by some authors. The islets have precipitous cliffs, dropping off steeply into the sea. East and Middle Anacapa have fairly level areas at their tops, but West Anacapa is wider and reaches an altitude of 930 feet. Middle Island reaches an altitude of 325 feet and East Island is 250 feet at its highest point. All three islands total 699 acres, or about 1.1 square miles.

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Comments

Micah - 2/03/2015 8:09 PM
Rating Added: 3
Good dive, but after diving in the Caribbean my blood was not quite as thick as I would have liked for this dive. Used a 6.5mm semi-dry and was definitely feeling the cold by the end of the day (May timeframe). Dive computer had me between 59 and 62 degrees at various locations. Got close to a few seals, and had a great time. Visibility was also not the greatest. I would say at some points we were down to less than 50 feet.
WILLO - 10/24/2014 11:06 AM
I went scuba diving here on 10/6/2013. Average viz: 26-30ft/8-9m. Water temp: 61-65°F/16-18°C.
Logged Dive 1103, What a great day for diving, there are light Santa Ana winds air temp is warm 80deg Vis is very good we can view the bottom from the surface at 40 feet. Steve pulls out 2-10 pounders on one dive. This is a first for me at Cap. I spend my dive time searching the back of the cove up close to the island. I find Bugs under rocks and ledges. I pull out 4, 2 are keepers. I check and set the hook so we will have an easy pull when we are under weigh.
WILLO - 10/24/2014 10:54 AM
I went scuba diving here on 10/6/2013. Average viz: 21-25ft/6-8m. Water temp: 56-60°F/13-16°C.
My 1103 Logged Dive; East Fish Camp, I’ve been here many times over the past 36 years. We entered the Night Dive at 11:37PM, a current is running off the point back through the cove. I’m looking for the ledge I’ve been up too many times that is loaded with Bugs. No luck the current is very strong at the point, I’m caught in the current, thinking DAMM I’m going to be rescued by my own boat. I dive to the bottom and work my way into the shallows as much as I could with the swell and waves causing a little stress. I locate a few Bugs back in their holes. I make an attempt at a couple with no success. I work my way along the rocks and find the Strobe’s flashing off the Buganeer. I check and set the hook we will spend the night here.
WILLO - 10/04/2014 1:31 AM
I went scuba diving here on 9/29/2014. Average viz: 51-60ft/16-18m. Water temp: 66-70°F/19-21°C.
The trip (Monday) across the Santa Barbara Channel was smooth. We chose Anacapa Island due to the ocean conditions. Very little swell, no wind, and no wind waves. We anchored at Cave Junction(my description) about mid-island on the inside of West Island. There is a small cove in the area close to sea-lion cave. There was no swell or surge we could dive right next to the island. Visibility was outstanding at least 60 feet. We anchored in 45 feet and could see the bottom from the surface. Our goal was Bugs, we scoured the rocks and holes for the critters we came away with three on the two dives, all legal. One was a 3.75 pound molt. We pulled anchor and headed for the backside around the East end. We ran into a westerly breeze, still no swell. The forecast was a slight south swell. With all the wind chop on the backside we set the GPS for Cruz and Point San Pedro. Once on the inside of Cruz near the point we had to deal with North Westerly winds. We made Little Scorpion anchorage. After setting the hook we waited for darkness and dinner Surf & Turf.
barbiezken - 6/04/2014 2:04 PM
I went scuba diving here on 8/17/2013. Average viz: 31-35ft/9-11m. Water temp: 56-60°F/13-16°C.
barbiezken - 6/04/2014 1:52 PM
I went scuba diving here on 12/28/2013. Average viz: 36-40ft/11-12m. Water temp: 50-55°F/10-13°C.
Scallops
stmalachy - 4/27/2014 10:19 AM
Rating Added: 4
Great place to see sea lions up close!
egunnison - 1/26/2014 2:01 PM
Rating Added: 4
Dove on first day of lobster season, a lot of good opportunities. Decent viz, and nominal current.
Songbird - 7/01/2013 10:38 AM
I went scuba diving here on 6/29/2013. Average viz: 11-15ft/3-5m. Water temp: 56-60°F/13-16°C.
Rich-D-Fish - 7/01/2013 9:18 AM
I went scuba diving here on 6/29/2013. Average viz: 11-15ft/3-5m.
scubazigy - 2/28/2013 12:57 AM
Rating Added: 4
Great boat dive trip! Plenty of life to see. Enjoyed the great visibility and somewhat warm water temp. 3 stops one lap around the island saw everything girabaldi to giant sea bass and even a blue shark!
LatitudeAdjustment - 6/02/2009 7:38 PM
From my log; Undersea Island at Anacapa, this flat topped island goes from 20’ to 80’ with wall like sides, beautiful color, orange cups, nudi’s, goby’s, garabaldi’s and more white urchins but of course the camera quit! We did one lap around the island plus about 30’ when all hell broke loose, the current began ripping, the vis dropped to 10’ and it got warmer or maybe that was just the adrenaline pumping, everyone aborted and headed for the anchor rode, Todd hangs on and shoots video of us flapping in the breeze.
LatitudeAdjustment - 6/02/2009 5:53 PM
From my log; Coral Reef Pinnacle at Anacapa island. The DM had said the anchor was at 70’, wrong it was 124’. Around the anchor it looks like grass maybe because I’m narked but on closer inspection it’s millions of Brittle stars, higher on the seamount everything is covered with purple anemones, orange and pink colonial coral, urchins, lot’s of small crabs and nudie’s, one large lone male sheepshead. We do stops at 60, 40 and 15’