Italian Gardens

Italian Gardens is the Catalina dive site known for giant black sea bass, about five miles up the front side from Avalon and just west of Long Point. The species is fully protected under California law, and Catalina has held one of the better-recovering populations on the West Coast since the population began recovering in the 1980s. In summer it is not unusual to encounter ten or more giant black sea bass at this site on a single dive, individuals in the 200 to 500-pound range. Divers commonly feed the fish at Italian Gardens, and the fish swarm and often touch divers.

The reef carries a dense giant kelp canopy that anchors to the rocky bottom at about 25 feet of depth and grows up through the water column to the surface. The shallows are rocky bottom that breaks out to a sandy slope at depth. The continuous kelp across the front-side reef makes Italian Gardens a kelp forest biome.

Access is boat-only. Fishing and spearfishing are legal under standard California regulations, because the site itself sits outside any MPA. The Long Point SMR boundary is just east of the dive moorings, and giant black sea bass are a fully protected species year-round regardless of where they are encountered.