Whenever I've been in San Diego and gone on a dive boat charter, I've usually been taken out to the HMCS Yukon wreck. There's nothing wrong with that, but I've been wanting to see what the local natural reefs look like. During my latest visit, a dive boat (Lois Ann) was going out to the Point Loma kelp beds so I went for a couple of dives with them. This dive site was called "NRAD" after the large military building on the adjacent shore. The area was mostly flat underwater with scattered mini-pinnacles about 6-8' high. Even though these Point Loma sites are billed as kelp dives, there wasn't much giant kelp, just a few occasional plants stretching up to the surface. Depths ranged between 35-45' deep and visibility was about 20'. The sides of the rocky outcroppings were covered with colourful small invertebrates like strawberry anemones, bryozoans and sponges. There were several gorgonian corals, mostly below 40' deep. There was one area with lots of lobsters crammed into some holes.
