40 foot visibility at Catalina Island

We were blessed with an unusually clear Pacific Ocean on this trip to Catalina island. The visibility was 40 feet, often 50 feet. The trip was in late May, so from my understanding this is better than average for that time of the year. Most of these photos were taken near Two Harbors. This Catalina Island visibility contributes to these gorgeous shades of blue seen here.

Visibility at Catalina Island

metamorphic tidal rocks looking out at the mooring balls

 The visibility at Catalina stayed this quality the entire week. Maybe this can be attributed to the warmer waters this El Nino year? Who knows?

Even here in deeper waters - 200 feet, you can see this great pastel blue color to the ocean.

Catalina island visibility

The shallow waters in the Two Harbors bay was spectacular. Jess and I snorkeled at the Blue Caves and we scuba dove at Cherry Cove. We actually had much more fun snorkeling. The caves were spectacular. Lots of abalone. It is all marine protected though, so no harvesting.

great visibility in the water at the Two Harbors dock

prickly pear cactus at Two Harbors

We sailed out from San Diego, which is about a 73 nautical mile journey. If you are taking your boat from LA, here is a good link to estimate crossing distances for boating to Catalina Island from major LA harbors. 

If you're taking your boat from San Diego, this page has good San Diego to Catalina Island boating distances.