Big storm, 8-12 foot waves, rip currents, choppy water, dangerous conditions, chances of rain and lightning. Advisory active until Wednesday, November 18.
Thousand Steps Beach
Santa Barbara · Santa Barbara County · California
Visibility Breakdown
Visibility by position
Solid = diver report · outlined = today's forecast
Break Zone: The area where waves can break, from the moment you can actually see underwater until you’ve passed the furthest breaking waves.
Post Break: The area just past the furthest breaking waves.
Open Water: A certain distance from shore, where visibility is at its best, or deeper underwater.
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.
Did you dive today?Please share the visibility to make our algorithm more accurate.
Report visibility
Why it reads 0–5 ft
Today's forecast runs
Dawn is the clearest window — onshore wind picks up by late morning and surface chop stirs the bottom through the afternoon.
Low 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
Santa Barbara, CA 93109
No lot. Free curbside parking on the residential streets near the top of the stairway, including one side of the narrow end of Santa Cruz Boulevard. It fills on weekends.
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See the offshore water on Pelagiscape →Clarity, temperature breaks and kelp off this beach.
About Thousand Steps Beach
Thousand Steps Beach sits below the Mesa bluff in Santa Barbara, reached by a public stairway that drops to the sand at the dead end of Santa Cruz Boulevard, just off Shoreline Drive. The City counts 157 steps across the multi-tier staircase, one of only 3 public beach-access stairways in Santa Barbara. Built in 1925 and originally named Camino al Mar, the structure goes by the Thousand Steps, 1000 Steps, or One Thousand Steps, and it shares the name with an unrelated Thousand Steps Beach in Laguna Beach, Orange County.
Species found here
The fish found at Thousand Steps Beach 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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Visibility predictions for the entire week ahead at any beach. Plan dives, schedule charters, and book trips without guessing.
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A members-only board on every beach where taking fish is legal: how other members hunt the spot, with the gear, tide, season, and target species. Post your own and earn XP.
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