Fisherman's Cove

Fisherman's Cove is a small, protected beach dive in Laguna Beach, California, just south of Shaw's Cove and near Heisler Park off Cliff Drive. It is a western extension of Diver's Cove, and divers often end up in one while thinking they are in the other, so keep your navigation sharp or you may face a shore walk. The site sits inside a Marine Protected Area and is a no-take zone, so no hunting is allowed.

Depths run from 0 to 35 ft (0 to 11 m). Mini-reefs begin almost straight out from the sandy beach, and the south side is a complex rock reef full of crevices, grooves and holes, with a healthy kelp bed on either side. Water temperature ranges from 52 to 78 F (11 to 26 C) and clarity runs from about 5 ft to 25 ft (1.5 to 8 m) or better. It also suits night dives and sunrise dives.

Look for lobster, sheephead, garibaldi, senoritas, sand bass, kelp bass, sculpin, mussels, urchins, sea cucumbers, starfish and gorgonians. Bat rays often play over the sand, and octopus, moray eels, horn sharks and swell sharks are sometimes seen at night.