Los Angeles

The Los Angeles County coast divides into sand and rock. The long beaches of Santa Monica Bay and the South Bay, from Santa Monica and Venice to Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Long Beach, have no rocky structure or kelp at the shoreline, so snorkeling, scuba and spearfishing from shore are uncommon there. The rocky coast sits at the ends of the county: Leo Carrillo and Point Dume in the northwest, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula in the south.

At Leo Carrillo State Beach, most divers enter at the stair cove just left of Sequit Point, and its 3 kelp zones are the main draw for scuba divers, snorkelers and spearfishers. On the Palos Verdes Peninsula, spearfishing, scuba, snorkeling and freediving are all common on the western reef at Malaga Cove, Abalone Cove is one of the calmer entries on that stretch and sits inside a marine conservation area, and White Point is the only shore dive on that stretch where a diver can drive gear down to the water. At Redondo Beach, experienced divers swim out from Veterans Park to the Redondo Submarine Canyon.

Visibility moves with the seasons and with rain. At Leo Carrillo it runs about 10 to 30 feet, reaching 40 on the best days, and is best in late summer and fall once the summer south swell fades. Malaga Cove averages 10 to 15 feet. After rain, runoff from the Los Angeles River and the harbor storm drains drops clarity near the port for days.