Flame Reef
Santa Cruz Island · Channel Islands National Park · California
Visibility Breakdown
Visibility by position
Solid = diver report · outlined = today's forecast
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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Why it reads 37 ft
Today's forecast runs
The clarity holds through the day, with a light afternoon onshore the only disturbance to the entry shallows.
High confidence
7-Day Forecast
Today is the live headline above. Tomorrow onward is the algorithm's forecast from predicted swell, wind, and rain, updated each morning and at 6 PM Pacific.
Map and parking
Channel Islands National Park · California
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See the offshore water on Pelagiscape →Clarity, temperature breaks and kelp off this beach.
About Flame Reef
Flame Reef is a rocky ridge on the southeast side of Santa Cruz Island, west of Sandstone Point, rising from a sand bottom at about seventy feet to a top around thirty-eight. The structure runs as a single elongated ridge, with crevices and ledges along its length and healthy kelp on the shallower crown. Charter boats work the site as a macro dive, with nudibranchs and small reef invertebrates along the ridge and lobster in the crevices.
Species found here
Researched habitat and range candidates. A listed species may be seasonal or depth-limited; this is not a confirmed sighting at this location.
Spot strategies
Surf Zone
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