Sea lions.

The Breakwater

Most dive classes enter at the foot of the breakwater or from the stairs at the San Carlos Beach parking lot and swim 40 yards or so where the water is 30 to 40 feet deep. There they find a sand and patch reef. This is a perfect place to demonstrate scuba skills, and there is plenty of marine life on the rocks for a tour later in the dive.

More advanced divers, particularly photographers, should dive along large granite blocks of the breakwater. To conserve air I normally surface swim and submerge either the bend in the breakwater or the fence that separates people from sea lions. Don’t forget to look down as you swim out. You will pass by a large, antique anchor and beds of sand dollars.

In many areas the rock blocks are covered with a lush carpet of strawberry anemones, which make interesting subjects for macro photography. Numerous fish eating anemones with their bright red bases, as well as the large green anemones, are common near the end of the breakwater.

One of the most beautiful creatures found here are the nudibranchs. Members of the dorid family are very common and can be seen grazing on sponges. This group of nudibranchs includes the bright yellow lemon nudibranch and the white-and-black ringed dorid. The generally more colorful and ostentatious group, the aeolids, are also quite common here. The thick-horned aeolid is particularly noticeable with their orange gills and yellow and blue-lined face.

One of the biggest attractions that the Breakwater has to offer is its large colony of California sea lions. The last half of the breakwater is not accessible to people and is a favorite haul out of these large and noisy mammals. Their barking can be heard for some distance both above and below the water. Divers can get a close up look of the herd as the sea lions sun themselves and an even closer look underwater. While normally shy when on land, the sea lions are at home in the water and lose much of their fear of people. The sea lions will normally dive down and investigate divers. They sometimes charge a diver at full speed, only to veer off at the moment before contact. They also seem to have great fun by barking underwater, leaving a belch of bubbles in their wake.

Click on map to enlarge.

At the base of the breakwater stretches a sand bottom. The sand is dotted with sea pens, white, orange and purple tube-dwelling anemones, as well as aggregating anemones. Living among the tube-dwelling anemones can be found the largest California nudibranch—the rainbow nudibranch. These dendronotids are excellent swimmers and feed on and lay eggs on the tube-dwelling anemones. Keep a keen eye for octopuses among the anemones as well.