Italian Gardens

Italian Gardens is a kelp-and-rock dive on the leeward (north-east) coast of Santa Catalina Island between Long Point and Avalon. The site sits inside Marine Conservation areas of Catalina that limit fishing. The bottom is a series of granite ridges and boulder piles running roughly perpendicular to shore from 9 metres on the inner reef down to 27 metres on the sand. Giant kelp covers the shallower rocks and provides a sheltered canopy. The site is one of the more reliable Catalina dives for adult giant black sea bass aggregations from July through September, when the federally protected fish gather to spawn; encounters with two to ten individuals up to 2 metres long and 200 kg are possible. Other reliable species include garibaldi, sheephead, kelp bass, large lingcod, blue and olive rockfish, California moray eels in the boulder cracks, and the occasional bat ray on the sand. Currents are moderate; visibility frequently exceeds 18 metres in late summer.