SNORKELING and SCUBA DIVING in Utah
Bonneville Seabase is your year round in-land location for Utah diving and snorkeling. This geothermally heated, salt water, high altitude mini ocean with colorful marine tropical fish is the only one of its kind for SCUBA, snorkeling, and dive training. Whether you are feeding the beautiful French angel fish or observing the docile nurse sharks, you'll never believe you are in the middle of Utah.
It is only $20 per day to come to Seabase for snorkeling or SCUBA, and rentals are available, if you don't have your own gear....or $5 for just hanging around, watching the fish get fed, getting a mollie pedicure, and seeing the "water people" having fun.!
Seabase Hours: by appointment:435-884-3874
Thursdays & Fridays, 9 AM to 3 PM
Saturdays & Sundays, 8 AM to 3:30 PM :and After hours, by arrangement, if you stay, it is a minimum of $20/hour (or part of an hour) extra, and it is pretty dark in the water by 3:30, because the mountains are just west of us!! See "events" below for extra info on July's hours-
We feed the fish at opening time, so try to come early and see the feeding-it is fun! Let us know you are coming out. The "Fish feeding fee" is included in the $20 day pass, if you are here at opening time, ( and it is only $5.00 per person-if you don't want to get in the water). Please only use "reef safe" sunblock in the water -, for the safety of the sealife. It is available here and at Neptune Divers in Salt Lake City.
All minors (under 18 years of age) MUST either bring their parents or a waiver signed (by parents). The waiver is printable, from the bottom left of this page
Events: Seabase is reserved for Element 11 on July 12th thru the 15th this year-no diving, unless you pay the element11.org for a ticket to their event. To make up for this, we are open, with no minimum group size, on the 4th of July, through the 11th, and the 16, through the 21st of July, by reservation! PLEASE let us know you are coming! Then business as usual, back to all Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, no minimum number of people, from 9 til 3 , the rest of the year.
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We have been annexed into Grantsville City-and were given a new street address. (it was 9390 West,)
now , to find us, it is :
Bonneville Seabase 1600 NORTH SR 138 Grantsville Utah 84029-1179
, which is much more logical. You might add "milemark 5" so even if you don't know the area, you can find us! For mail, use P O Box 1179.
Google maps is wrong, as are most GPS units-they will send you to our post office in Grantsville, so to use your GPS, please use :
N: 40 degrees 38.784'
W: 112 degrees 31.475 '
better yet, just:
drive to exit 84 on I-80, and go SOUTH (away from the Great Salt Lake) for 5 miles on hiway 138 and we are on the east side (toward Salt Lake City)of the highway. Watch for cattle on the road, as they get out of their designated spaces frequently, and they are not very smart..
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See some of our underwater life at Seabase on YouTube videos !
the youtube video from China: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfn04URoBso
Non profit groups: you can get a discount on area use fees on Thursdays, Fridays, & Sundays
photo of sunrise by Lynn Findlay
to contact us: info@seabase.net or call
435-884-3874
Seabase Conditions as of 5.10.2012
White Rocks Bay |
Habitat Bay |
The Abyss |
80ºF |
78ºF |
83F |
Snorkel and Dive in Utah
all year, with tropical marine fish!
Please note: Seabase will closed from 7/12-7/16 this July only, but we will be open on the Mon, Tue and Wed -7/9-10 before and 7/17-19 on the days we are normally closed, after those days! Sorry for any inconvenience!!!
The vis is currently not as good as we'd like, but better than the last few weeks. In some places it is less than 8 feet, down to 7' in White Rocks Bay and Habitat Bay and 10 to12 feet in the Abyss. Seabase is a good snorkeling place, and the fish are a lot easier to see from the surface this time of the year, as itis getting warmer! And they are hungry, so they beg while you are diving. Keep in touch so we can let you know when the water clears more!
In spring, it stays light a bit later, but after 3 in the afternoon, the sun gets close to the mountain tops to the west- so come early. Opening time, when we feed the fish is a good time to start! 8 on weekends, and 9 on Thursday and Friday.
Most of the bigger fish are starting to move back and forth between White Rocks, the covered bay, and the outdoor Habitat Bay. You should see lots of pork fish, friendly angel fish, banner fish and a shark or two in Habitat Bay and White Rocks Bay..
We still recommend a 3 to 5 ml wetsuit . Soon we won't need more than a shorty wetsuit!
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Go look for our two gorgeous yellow and blue groupers, a bunch of little tiny butterfly fish, and our own born and raised-in-Seabase porkfish and monos. Find the two red hawkfish and some little bamboo sharks, who sometimes hide very well under the rocks and silt, and swim with huge jacks and pompano.....
Steve Ray is very tame, and prone to jumping up part way out of the water to be fed in the morning and usually do get to the surface every morning to get breakfast! This Southern sting ray is friendly, and...I knew you were going to ask..you may not pet him, please. It is a Southern STING rays.
In the Abyss, if you are quiet and persistant, you might find a friendly clownfish, a few silver jennies, a tang, one tiny yellow cowfish, a small baby bamboo shark, four assorted butterfly fish, and two bright orange Big eye soldierfish. Some are small, so they will require a bit of quiet searching to find. (try under the teaching platform)
While you can see some of fish from the surface, you can see a lot more if you are in the water and swimming slowly.
Habitat Bay has the "ship" wreck and the platforms. The big jacks and pompano swim around the platforms and put on quite a show on the warmer days in the morning when we feed them. The other Habitat Bay fish hang close to the warmer water by the inflows on the bottom, especially the little juvenile porkfish and butterfly fish. The two nurse sharks can usually be found in the middle or North side of White Rocks Bay, or in Habitat Bay on the teaching platform, near the ship wreck, with a lot of brightly colored young pork fish and some monos swimming around them. Look for tiny juvenile monos swimming at about 3" deep, under the platforms over Habitat Bay and arround the ladder in White Rocks Bay!.
ly a lot clearer-(but without many fish, not so much fun!) And because the Abyss is deep and not very wide, it will feel much warmer than the bays.
May '08
Photos by : Lynn Findlay & Linda Nelson |
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Quick Links
What's New
"Divers Log" Section added
to the Seabase web site. Read all about people's experiences at Seabase
or submit you own comments.
Hours of Operations
Thursday and Friday - 9A-3P.
Saturday and Sunday - 8 A-3:30 P
Special Reservations Available for other days. Call or e-mail
for possibility of appointment.
Contact Seabase
E-mail - info@seabase.net
Local - 435.884.3874
Affiliate Link
