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Oil Rig Eureka & Catalina, California (by Joe Deutsch) First dive was on the oil rig Eureka, which sets in 720 feet. Since you can't anchor there, we were basically going to do a drift dive. We were split up into two groups. I was in group two. Usually the early bird gets the worm, but in this case, the second mouse gets the cheese. You throw the first group in and then you get status report when they get back on visibility, how deep to go, etc. Also when we were first pulling up, there was a blue shark cruising around looking for a meal, so group 2 was willing to send in group 1 as a sacrificial snack. You know blues love divers, crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside. There was a slight current running, so Capt Ray positioned the boat up current to drop off the divers AFAP (As Fast As Possible). All 10 divers were lined up ready to go in. It looked like a Navy SEAL's helo drop - "GO! Splash! GO! Splash! Pause to hand down camera, GO! Splash! Our scouts in group1 reported back that visibility cleared up below 60 feet. Our group lined up to go in. By the time #11 jumps in (me!), the boat had drifted down current past the rig, so I had to swim against the current to get to the rig. The sea lions come out to greet us while we are swimming to the rig.
This has been provided by 'Seasabres', they are a diveclub based in California and can be contacted on Diveboats@seasabres.com
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The
boat dive for June was to visit the oil rigs on board the Sun Diver out
of Long Beach. I was really looking forward to this dive because of all
the talk about how great it was diving on the rigs. I showed up at the
dock at 6am. While unloading my car, I was introduced to Ray Arntz, captain
of the Sun Diver (Note to myself - Never introduce yourself to the captain
while holding a GPS - I swear it was only so I could find my way to the
dock). The Sun Diver is a very nice dive boat. It is set up very well
to accommodate divers. We had 21 divers and I didn't feel crowded like
I have on other boats. The boat has a rack for gear that extends over
the side which allows more free deck space. The crew was very helpful,
filling tanks - didn't have to wait for a tank to be filled. The galley
had good food (soy and non-soy burgers) and lots of drinks. It was a great
day for a boat dive. The weather was warm and no wind. It was hazy in
the morning, but the sun came out later. The seas were calm, little swells
and no chop. It was a very pleasant hour long ride out to the oil rig.
The
structure was beautiful, loaded with mussels and all those scallops!
Went down to 110 feet. Horizontal cross members at 50 feet and 120 feet.
Looked like a crystalline stricture. At 110 feet, I could see down another
50-80. I tried to take pictures, but my little Canon sport camera, which
is only rated for 15 feet, would not take pictures because the pressure
depressed my shutter button and would not release it till I got back to
80 feet. After surfacing, we played a little "Simon Says" with the boat.
"Simon says STOP!, Simon says kick like mad! The second dive was on the
dual rig Elly-Ellen, which under water, looks like the Eureka oil
rig. The two rigs have a catwalk between them. For the third dive, we
headed over to Catalina to find the elusive giant black sea
bass. Last time we went looking for these guys, I was the only diver
who didn't see them. This time, I was going to find them. finally saw
one about 6 foot 200 lbs (I think it was THE one that everyone saw) as
it cruised past me about 10 feet away. The water at Catalina seemed colder
at 20 feet than the oil rig at 110 feet. Had a smooth ride back to Long
Beach. It was a great day of diving.