Frog Rock
Avalon · Catalina Island · California
Visibility Breakdown
Visibility by position
Post Break: The range past where any waves are forming, where the water starts to have a significant increase in visibility. There might be some sediment here, but swell energy is diffused and the water is calmer.
Open Water: This zone is far out enough from the shore that the water is at its clearest. It’s deep enough that sediment is not disturbed by the wave energy at the surface. Haze can sit near the surface, so the water is usually clearer the deeper you go.
Through the day
Today's visibility readings at this spot, shown at the hour each one was taken.
Every bar is a reading for the Post Break zone.
This chart shows measured diver reports only.
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Today's forecast
As of Oct 12, 8:02 PM PT · latest availableDawn is the clearest window — onshore wind picks up by late morning and surface chop stirs the bottom through the afternoon.
7-Day Forecast
Map · getting there
33.361° N · 118.335° W
Catalina Island, CA 90704
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Open in Apple MapsAbout Frog Rock
Frog Rock is a small rock at the waterline on Catalina's front side, about a mile northwest of the Catalina Casino and past the Hamilton Cove shoreline. It sits against a narrow beach below a wooded hillside, and no road comes down to it. Most people arrive by sit-on-top kayak from Descanso Beach. Descanso Beach Ocean Sports runs a 2.5-hour guided paddle there called Journey to Frog Rock, and the tour lands at the rock for a snack and a swim.
A dark band of kelp and reef shows on satellite imagery just off the rock, and the paddle up from Descanso glides over nearshore kelp. That canopy makes Frog Rock a kelp forest biome. The rock itself and the hard bottom around it put the spot in the rocky reef biome as well.
Access is by kayak or boat only. Fishing and spearfishing are legal under standard California regulations. Frog Rock sits outside every MPA, with Casino Point SMCA about a mile south and Long Point SMR about 3 miles north. It also sits north of Avalon city limits, so the city's spearfishing ban, which covers only ocean waters inside those limits, does not reach it.
Kelp Forest
The kelp forest biome is giant kelp anchored to rocky bottom and growing up through the water column. The canopy and stipes form a three-dimensional habitat that shelters fish, invertebrates, and the predators that hunt them. Learn more about this biome and the species found in it by clicking the link below.
Learn more in the Biome Glossary
Rocky Reef
The rocky reef biome is bare rock, boulder, and cobble structure without a kelp canopy above it. The hard relief and its crevices shelter invertebrates and reef fish, and the structure concentrates life that the surrounding sand cannot hold. Learn more about this biome and the species found in it by clicking the link below.
Learn more in the Biome GlossaryTarget Fish Species
The fish found at Frog Rock are being researched for the Ichthyopedia. This section fills in as species are mapped to this beach.
Browse the Ichthyopedia →Spot strategies
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