Spearfishing Safety Tips for San Diego: What Every Diver Should Know Before Getting in the Water

The most important spearfishing safety tips for San Diego are: never dive alone, use the one-up-one-down buddy system to guard against shallow water blackout, fly a dive flag and stay aware of heavy boat traffic, carry a knife for kelp entanglement, and check real-time conditions before every dive. San Diego is one of the best places in the country to dive, but its kelp, surf, boat traffic, and swings in visibility all deserve respect.

I've spent years diving this coast and teaching people to do it safely. These are the safety habits that actually keep divers as safe as possible not just the generic ones.

1. Shallow water blackout is the real risk — dive one-up, one-down

The number one killer in freediving spearfishing isn't sharks or boats — it's shallow water blackout, where a diver passes out from low oxygen on the way up, often in the last few feet. It gives no warning. The only reliable defense is the one-up, one-down buddy system: one diver hunts while the other watches from the surface, tracks them through the whole dive and ascent, and is ready to assist. Never both drop at once, and never dive alone. This single habit prevents the majority of fatalities.

If you learn one thing before diving San Diego, make it proper buddy protocol and rescue skills. The free freediving safety course at freedivingsafety.com covers exactly this, and a local San Diego shop like Just Get Wet can get you hands-on, in-water rescue training.

2. Fly a dive flag — San Diego has serious boat traffic

Mission Bay, Point Loma, La Jolla, and the coves see heavy boat, jet-ski, and kayak traffic, especially in summer. Always deploy a dive flag on a float, keep it close, and assume boaters can't see your head in the swell. My friend Cam from TAG spearguns recently had a very close call where a boat was cutting through the kelp and actually missed him by inches but dragged him by his floatline eventually ripping his speargun out of his hands. Check before you begin your dive if possible.

3. Respect the kelp — carry a knife and keep it tucked away

San Diego's kelp forests are what make the diving great, but a trailing float line or a fin can tangle in a canopy fast, and this summer's warm-water rot means a lot of loose, drifting kelp in the water. Always carry an accessible dive knife, keep your rigging clean, and don't have your knife sticking out where kelp strands will snag on it. I used to keep my knife on the inside of my calf, not the outside. Stay calm if you snag and don't panic, That is what turns a tangle into an emergency.

4. Learn the surf entries and exits

Shore diving spots like La Jolla Cove, Shores, and the Marine Room mean surf entries over sand or rock. Time your entry between sets, keep your mask on and fins in hand or on until you're through the break, and know your exit before you get in. More divers get hurt on rocky exits than anywhere else. Personally, I time the sets, and I will take the last wave of the set and body surf in as far as I can if it is small to medium-sized surf. For larger days, like 5 ft or bigger, I will ride the back of the waves in rather than trying to be in the front. What I mean is, when the wave breaks, I do not want to be in front of it. If a bigger wave does break, rather than trying to ride it in, I duck down and let it pass me, then swim after it's gone by. Too many times, bigger waves are too powerful and will rip your fins or your gun out of your hand.

5. Watch for water conditions — and this summer, the heat

Check real-time conditions before every San Diego dive: visibility, swell, wind, and water temperature. This summer's marine heatwave has pushed surface temps into the 70s, driving plankton blooms, red tide, and kelp rot that murk up the shallows. Warm, low-viz, particulate-heavy water raises the risk of losing sight of your buddy — exactly when the buddy system matters most. You can pull live San Diego conditions from the SpearFactor dashboard at conditions.spearfactor.com to check the current conditions. Second option is just to build a solid network of friends, and you can get information from their last dive. Just be aware that conditions do change in hours or even minutes.

6. Know the marine protected areas and regulations

Safety includes legal safety. San Diego has multiple Marine Protected Areas (like the La Jolla MPA) where spearfishing is prohibited, plus size and bag limits and a required California fishing license with an ocean enhancement stamp. Know the boundaries before you dive so a good day doesn't turn into a citation.

7. Manage sharks and sea lions calmly

The sharks you'll actually run into diving San Diego are rarely a real threat. Inshore and around the kelp, that means leopard sharks, tope (soupfin) sharks, and the occasional sevengill — all common, all far more interested in leaving than in you. Head out to the offshore banks and the cast changes: blue sharks and makos are the regulars out there, and yes, this is white shark country, so a great white is always a possibility on the outer banks. Treat that as a reason for calm awareness, not fear — encounters are rare and almost never lead to an attack.

The same goes if you're diving around the Channel Islands or the Coronado Islands — great whites are there too. My rule of thumb is simple: dive when the visibility allows it. I have a lot of friends who've seen great whites in good visibility, and the pattern is almost always the same — the shark comes by, takes a look, and moves on. They generally don't seem too interested. It's poor visibility that changes the results: when a white can't get a clear look at what you are, the encounter could go a little differently. So let visibility be your green light. My personal rule is 20 ft. or more visibility.

Either way, the rules are the same: don't string bleeding fish on your body — use a float line and keep your catch well away from you — and if a shark shows up, stay calm, keep it in view, and don't thrash. Aggressive, panicked behavior from you is what creates problems.

Here's the honest truth, though: sea lions are far more of a hassle than any shark out there, and it isn't close. There are so many of them that you'll deal with them constantly, and they get bold — even aggressive — especially when you've got a fish on your spear. They'll come in fast, harass you, and pull your catch right off the shaft if you let them. Keep your fish secured and dispatched quickly, don't play tug-of-war, and expect the sea lions — not the sharks — to be the thing that actually messes with your dive.

Build the skills before you need them

Safety is a set of trained reflexes, not a checklist you read once. The SpearFactor Master Class at SpearFactor.com covers buddy protocol, rescue, and reading San Diego conditions in depth, and I'd start every new diver with the free freediving safety course at freedivingsafety.com and a hands-on class before they ever load a gun.

Dive with a buddy, fly your flag, carry a knife, and check conditions at conditions.spearfactor.com before you get in — that's how you dive San Diego for decades. For the full safety system, see the SpearFactor Master Class at SpearFactor.com.