Carlsbad to Del Mar. Shore entry.
North County San Diego
Swami's is the one to know: white seabass and the named pelagic finfish by spear, nothing else. The three lagoons are wetlands where no diver takes anything, and San Dieguito Lagoon prohibits diving outright.
The next three mornings
Is it worth getting out of bed?
Reading the forecast for every spot…
What divers actually saw
Loading reports…
Get a ping the evening before North County San Diego looks good
Go means wind under 8 kt, under 3 ft of swell reaching the spot and under 1.5 ft of surge at 30 ft, every hour from 7 to 11 am. Rules of thumb, not a safety call: how each spot is judged. Visibility is not in the verdict, because no feed measures it at the spot: the Vis column shows a diver’s report from the last 48 hours when there is one, and otherwise an estimate from satellite water clarity, surge and rain.
4 protected areas, and what each one allows
Every boundary is CDFW’s and every rule is quoted in full on the card, with its section of CCR Title 14 §632(b) and the date it was read.
These three labels are this chart’s shorthand for four separately written regulations. Each area is governed by its own section of CCR Title 14 §632(b), named when you hover it. The rules differ area by area and change — check CDFW before you take anything.
Somewhere else in mind? Tap the open water to drop your own mark.
Tap the spots you’d actually get on a boat for. No commitment — it tells us which water to plan the first season around.
The rule, in CDFW’s words · §632(b)(138)
Swami's State Marine Conservation Area
It is unlawful to injure, damage, take, or possess any living, geological, or cultural marine resource, EXCEPT: Recreational take by hook-and-line from shore, and white seabass and pelagic finfish (northern anchovy, barracudas, billfishes, dorado (dolphinfish), Pacific herring, jack mackerel, Pacific mackerel, salmon, Pacific sardine, blue shark, salmon shark, shortfin mako shark, thresher shark, swordfish, tunas, Pacific bonito, and yellowtail) by spearfishing is allowed.
MPA boundaries: California Department of Fish and Wildlife, ds582. Regulations: CDFW per-MPA pages, retrieved 2026-10-04. Spot positions: USGS Geographic Names Information System (Domestic Names, California), public domain.