Refugio State Beach is a shore accessible salt water dive site, located in Santa Barbara coast, CA. This dive site has an average rating of 3.57 out of 5 from 7 scuba divers.
Refugio is a very popular destination for beach-goers. With over 100 campsites (mostly reserved from early on in the vacation season), the beach can be very crowded. But once underwater you won’t have to worry about those crowds! Just a short distance off shore you’ll find kelp beds and reef, and, for the more adventurous, a rocky point to explore to the West.
Directions: Found 19 miles West of Santa Barbara, take the Refugio exit of Highway 101, and follow the signs to the beach.
April 26, 2009 we dove in the morning. During the week it was very easy to get parking right in front of the kelp beds. The facilities at the campsite have warm showers (bring your quarters!) The visibility was about 15+ with little to no surge. We had one beginner diver with us and she had a great time. Even those of us that were seasoned divers enjoyed the kelp. We only dove the kelp and reef just south of the play ground, but it was good and easy to get to. Virtually no surface swim! Next time we will head north to the reef up a bit and check it out.
Refugio Beach is a really nice dive site. It is far out of the way, but little beach break and nice rock and kelp formations. Kicked far out to the kelp. Dove to the left (east) side of the beach and viz was about five feet due to recent swell. Saw lots of fish and a guitarfish on the bottom. Excellent facilities and great place to take the family and stay a few days. $8.00 for daily pass and $25.00 a night for camping fee- trailers, tents, etc. Make reservations early due to people. Day parking no problem. Excellent place!
There’s barely any current here, and you can see pretty well. There’s plenty of plant and animal life.
I dove this site with 3 other friends. Easy parking and very easy shore entry. Great kelp beds on the Southern side. Very little current or surge when we were there. Busy campsite but worth the trip. Vis on this day was between 5-7 and depths about 20ft with lots of starfish and kelp fish around.
This site has great visibility and the entry is the easiest one around. The site only gets about 30 feet deep which is good for beginners. It is somewhat boring for the experienced diver but it is well worth a try and definitely worth the $8/day use charge to park 100 feet from the water and gear up.
This site is a great spot to dive. We went to the left, almost straight out and to the east of the campground. There are shelves and ledges that make up a most fantastic reef system. We saw numerous fish (bass, senoritas, skates, lingcod) crabs, an octopus, seahares, and nudis. This dive is well worth doing!
http://www.shorediving.com/Earth/USA_West/CalM/Refugio/index.htm