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The California
Channel Islands National Park consists of 249,354 acres, half
of which are under the ocean, and include the islands of San Miguel,
Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, and Santa Barbara.
Located at the convergence of nutrient rich waters from Northern California
and warm waters from Baja California, the islands play host to a variety and
quantity of marine life that changes from one end of the island chain to
the other.
I enjoy diving the Channel Islands more than the Caribbean. The
variety of marine life is wonderful and vastly different. Nothing
compares with diving in the kelp forests. It is like taking a walk in
the woods underwater.
- Gary Fowler, Rhea’s Diving, Knoxville, TN
More than 2,000 species can be found within the park, and of those 145 can
be found nowhere else on earth. Archeological and cultural resources span
a period of more than 10,000 years. Marine life ranges from bright sea stars,
spiny lobsters and brilliant orange Garibaldi to dolphins, sea lions, the
endangered Giant Black Sea Bass and the blue whale, the largest animal alive
on the earth.
Even though the islands seem tantalizingly close to the densely populated,
southern California coast, their isolation has left the Channel Islands
relatively undeveloped and has played a big role in building their
diversity.
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