Scuba Dive Site: Shores Main Wall, La Jolla, San Diego, Southern California

LaJolla Shores Main Wall is the most popular dive site in San Diego. Classes are trained in the shallow areas, while advanced divers follow the LaJolla submarine canyon down to as deep as their training allows them. Good parking, year-round diving and unpredictable marine life make this a favorite among some San Diego divers. This site is also known as Vallecitos point. Click on Map to enlarge

Maps are not to be used for boaters or navigational purposes.

Interests: Angel sharks, halibut, various rays, guitarfish, sheep crabs, pipefish, and horn sharks can be found in the shallow sand between 20ft and 60ft depth. Past 60ft depth you can find exotic and varied marine life such as fringeheads, nudibranchs, cabezon, cusk eels, crabs, shrimps, octopus, gobies, lobsters, clams, sheephead, and rockfish. Squid are present in the winter, and sea lions occassionally buzz divers.
Entry & Exits: Sandy beach, then a long surface swim.
Suggestions: Beginner dives will enter at the sandy beach where vallecitos street is, and surface swim out a ways, drop down, and swim west to about 70ft, then follow the structure north or south. Most divers go north, although going south will bring you to the south wall, which is steeper and deeper than the main wall.
Best time to Dive: La jolla shores is fairly protected against all but the largest swells. Check Conditions

Visibility: 10-25ft

Warnings: A semi-long walk to the water, followed by a long surface swim can make this dive tiring for divers not used to walks/swims in their gear. The water in the LaJolla canyon is cold (50's) all year round, sometimes as cold as 49 degrees in the late winter/early spring, so bundle up or get a dry suit. A dive light should be brought, even during the day.

Depth Recomendations:50-90ft is where most of the points of interest are for this site. 60 ft is Recomended maximum depth for novice beach divers .
100 ft is Recommended maximum for advanced beach divers. 130 ft is Maximum Depth for recreational divers.

Safety: Use of float, flag, anchor and descent line is required for beach diving. Cell phone and oxygen first aid kit should be avalible.

Click here for photos

Directions: Click on map for GOOGLE MAP directions

Parking:

Parking is free but can fill up on busy summer weekends. Come early for the best parking right on Vallecitos street. It is a longer walk from the large parking lot.

Photos of the Shores Main Wall Parking lot, and the walk to the beach.

Mapping and photography by Scott Gietler.