La Jolla Cove & Canyon · United States · Sand slope
The Marine Room
A sand flat that holds 3 to 5 metres for 100 metres out
Area photo: Jarek Tuszyński · CC BY-SA 4.0
A shore entry onto a shallow sand flat, reached by the alleyway beside The Marine Room restaurant. The bottom holds between 3 and 5 metres for at least 100 metres out from shore, which makes this a flat, unhurried dive over open sand rather than anything topographic. The tide governs it: at higher water the sea washes over the entry steps.
Where it is and how deep
32.8540° N, 117.2627° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The entry is the part to get right. ScubaGo directs divers down the alleyway beside The Marine Room restaurant and warns that at higher tide the water washes onto the steps there, so the tide table sets your timing rather than the clock does. Kit up before you reach the steps, get in, and swim clear of them before you drop.
Once you are down, the ground is sand and stays sand. ScubaGo gives 3 to 5 metres for at least 100 metres out from shore, so this is a flat, shallow search rather than a descent: hold a compass heading out across the flats, work slowly over the bottom, and reverse the heading to come back to the same steps. Depth is never the constraint on this dive; the state of the tide at the exit is.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good |
Season follows La Jolla Cove & Canyon: Leopard sharks mass in the shallows Jul–Oct when visibility is also best; the market squid run peaks Nov–Mar on night dives.
Know before you go
- At higher tide the water washes onto the entry steps beside the restaurant, so time entry and exit around the tide and get clear of the steps rather than standing on them.
Dive videos
Diving Shallow with Turtles at the Marine Room | La Jolla Shores | San Diego | California · SDScuba on YouTube
Sources
- The Marine Room dive site — ScubaGo (SSI MyDiveGuide)
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