Overview
A shallow site with a diverse layout, easy to get around even without a guide. The reef has a large round rock with a hole straight through the middle of it, and that is where the name comes from. It sits above the thermocline, so the water is warmer than most of our dives.
What to See
Fish you would find in the intertidal zone: Garibaldi, opaleye, giant kelpfish, calico bass and sheephead. Plus lobsters, urchins, sea stars, nudibranchs and octopi.
Typical Conditions
Open Water / beginner-friendly. Shallow and often warmer above the thermocline.
History
Natural rocky reef in the Point Loma kelp beds.
Photographed here
What our divers have photographed at Donut Hole
21 species and features identified in our own photographs from this site. A record of what has been here, not a promise of what will be: sightings change with season, visibility and luck.
Photographed by Callie Mack, August 2024, May 2025
Black and orange sea cucumber · Cabezon · Crowned urchin · Donut Hole Felimare californiensis · Fluted bryozoan · Garibaldi nest with eggs · Giant spined star · Golden gorgonian and star · Gray moon sponge · Kellet's whelk · Kellet's whelk with eggs · Painted greenling · Red urchin · Rock scallop · S stag bryozoan with spiny brittle stars · Senorita · Snubnose sculpin · Southern staghorn bryozoan and brittle stars · Spanish shawl · Urchins · Warty sea cucumber