Wreck Alley or Point Loma kelp: which should you dive first?
Updated September 2026 · Marissa Charters, San Diego
Dive the Point Loma kelp first if you are Open Water certified, new to cold water, or have not been on a California boat in a while. Dive Wreck Alley and the HMCS Yukon first if you hold Advanced Open Water and have 15 to 20 logged cold-water dives. The kelp has Open Water friendly reefs from 20 feet. The Yukon keeps you between 60 and 100.
What each one is
Wreck Alley is a cluster of deliberately sunk wrecks on flat sand about two miles off Mission Beach. The HMCS Yukon, a 366-foot Canadian destroyer on her port side in 102 feet of water, is the centerpiece. The Ruby E, a former Coast Guard cutter, and the El Rey, a kelp harvester, sit upright in 65 to 85 feet about half a mile south. A Wreck Alley day is two dives, the Yukon plus one of the others.
The Point Loma kelp is giant kelp on rocky reef along the west side of the Point Loma peninsula, the largest giant kelp forest on the U.S. West Coast with its La Jolla twin. We dive about twenty named reefs and pinnacles in it, from New Hope Rock at 20 feet to Strawberry Ledges at 110. A kelp day is two dives at two of those sites, about five and a half hours dock to dock.
Side by side
| Wreck Alley | Point Loma kelp | |
|---|---|---|
| Bottom | Flat sand, two miles off Mission Beach | Rocky reef and pinnacles off Point Loma |
| Depth | Yukon 56 to 102 ft. Ruby E and El Rey 65 to 85 ft | 20 to 114 ft depending on the site |
| Certification | Advanced Open Water for the Yukon. Ruby E is Open Water friendly | Several sites Open Water friendly, the deeper walls Advanced |
| Cold-water dives we recommend | 15 to 20 for the Yukon | None stated. Comfort in a 7 mm suit or drysuit matters most |
| What you are looking at | Steel: a warship, a cutter, a harvester, all carpeted in anemones | Kelp, rock, walls, cracks and the animals that live in them |
| Boarding | 8:00 am | 8:00 am |
What you see
On the wrecks, the structure is the show. The Yukon's hull is carpeted in Metridium and strawberry anemones, gorgonians have grown on her steel, morays live in the structure, and blacksmith school through the openings. Scripps counted 13 common fish species on her by 2004, led by surfperch, blacksmith and juvenile bocaccio.
In the kelp, our divers' own photographs record garibaldi, sheephead, kelp bass, treefish, lobster, dozens of nudibranch species, gorgonians and sea stars, site by site. Connor's Canyon alone has 53 species in our photo record. Neither list is a promise. Visibility on both swings from excellent to almost nothing and changes week to week.
Which first, plainly
If you are Open Water and comfortable, book a kelp day and ask for the shallower sites. You get the cold-water suit and weighting sorted at 30 to 60 feet, on a reef with a lot to look at, with the boat overhead.
If you are Advanced Open Water with cold-water dives in your log, book Wreck Alley. The Yukon is the dive people travel to San Diego for, and you are ready for it.
If you are Advanced Open Water but your cold-water dives are years back, tell us. A kelp day first costs you nothing in pride and pays you back on the Yukon.
Do both
Most of our regulars alternate. The trip listing names the sites and states the certification requirement before you book, so pick the day that fits your card. The Wreck Alley and Point Loma kelp trip pages carry the prices and what the ticket covers. Both board at 8:00 am at Mission Bay Sports Center, 1010 Santa Clara Place, San Diego. Text Capt Lora at (619) 757-3280 if you want a second opinion before you book.