Wipe Out Beach

This is one of my favorite dives in La Jolla for a couple of reasons. First of all the crowds are usually thinner here and you can usually find a place close enough to park, even in summer when you'll be driving in circles for hours looking for a spot down by the Cove. Secondly it usually holds it's visibility better than anywhere else in the San Diego area. A wide variety of bottom terrain keeps the site interesting. To the right there are fingers of high relief reefs, in the center follow the sand channels along the kelp and eel grass, and to the left there are more reefs. Life here varies with the amount of kelp present. But I've seen seals, bat rays, guitarfish, halibut, perch and lobster (though mostly small). The fish seem to hug the structure in the area, probably to avoid the hungry seals. Watch the shore break, which can be steep, but the sandy bottom makes the entry/exit a little easier.