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The Cortes Bank is located 100 miles west of San Diego and 40 miles southwest of San Clemente Island. It is a undersea mountain ridge or seamount that rises to within 20 feet of the surface in many places.
The Cortes Bank is a truly wild spot best dived by intermediate to advanced divers. It is a far cry from the Caribbean! The Bank is far from land and is often swept by strong open ocean currents and large swells -- considerable surge can be encountered even at depths approaching 100 feet!
Then why dive the Cortes Bank? Because you'll be diving a wild and stunningly beautifully open ocean seamount that acts as a giant sealife magnet! Vertebrates and invertebrates call the Bank home. Lobster in great numbers can be found here for those who know where to look! In fact many of our dive trips to the Cortes Bank are scheduled during lobster season (October - March).
Since the seamount is a truly an open place, sightings of pelagic animals are common. Tuna, huge numbers of yellowtail (jack family), large schools of baitfish, large rafts of sea lions and occasional sharks are seen here.
The water is typically very clear here with visibility approaching 100 feet due to the open ocean currents that sweep the Bank. Not much giant kelp grows here, but endless swaying carpets of short, tough palm kelp cover most of the seamount. Below the kelp are found crevices and cracks, loaded with bottom fish, lobsters, moray-eels, abalone and huge tufts of purple hydrocoral.
Diving at the Cortes Bank can be exciting, challenging and beautiful! Although the captain anchors in progressively shallower spots as the day goes on, the first dive each day is typically in excess of 60 feet.
Since no islands exist at the Cortes Bank to offer protection from wind and swell, the boat may roll while at anchor. The crew is expert at conducting dive operations in these conditions and will help you on and off with your tank and with your entry into and exit from the water. On multiple day trips more than one day could be spent on the Bank. But if weather conditions are not favorable we'll take you to either San Clemente Island or San Nicholas Island.
If you are comfortable with open ocean diving conditions, the Cortes Bank should be high on your diving priority list. Perhaps nowhere else while diving in California will you feel so "out there".
Cortes Bank is a remote, exciting and pristine dive spot that embodies the spirit of adventure!
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