Orange County

Orange County runs from Seal Beach at the Los Angeles County line to San Clemente near the San Diego County border. Its northern beaches at Seal Beach, Huntington Beach and Newport Beach are sand bottom with no rocky structure or kelp to hold fish, so snorkeling and scuba are uncommon there. South of the Newport Harbor entrance, rocky reef and kelp appear at Corona del Mar, Crystal Cove, Laguna Beach and Dana Point.

Little Corona del Mar Beach is well protected from open swell, which makes it one of the easier shore dives in the county, and snorkelers and scuba divers work it through the year. Crystal Cove and Salt Creek Beach Park sit inside marine conservation areas that still allow spearfishing for finfish, and spearfishing is common on their reef and kelp. At Laguna Beach, the reserve off Main Beach prohibits spearfishing and hook-and-line fishing, and its rocky ends draw snorkelers and scuba divers to dense fish populations along the reef.

Dive guides put visibility at Little Corona at 15 to 20 feet on an average day, with 30 feet not unusual once the water clears. Offshore, Wheeler North Reef off San Clemente runs 10 to 25 feet, with summer and fall the better seasons, though red tides cut visibility in some summers. At the mouth of San Juan Creek, visibility at Doheny State Beach runs reliably poor.