Diving on an Oil Platform Off Los Angeles

Eureka Platform sits in around 500 feet of water which makes it an oasis in the ocean desert. After getting permission from the platform thanks to the help of Captain Mike (is it a rule that all Captains get renamed Mike?) of the supply vessel Isabel El, we staged two dives here and the general consensus was that it was well worth the skiff ride. There is a very definite vertical line as you descend where the mussels leave off and the anemones take over at about 30 feet. There is also a marked difference between the life on each of the legs which presumably is due to differing light conditions and water movement. Some legs were covered in strawberry anemones, others in the white metridium. In amongst the anemones were barnacles and small amounts of kelp, sponges and corals.

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Bad Weather, If at First You Don’t Succeed…

We started Dive day 2 by checking in at the Navy base and then picking up three underwater photographers from the World Wildlife Federation who had been waiting for us at Socorro Island during the storm (unable to dive). From there we went to Cabo Pearce. Throughout all 3 dives at Cabo Pearce we could hear the humpback whales singing in the background. In between dives two and three several guests were out snorkeling when a humpback whale mom and calf happened along and checked out the snorkellers. The encounter was, of course, an incredible experience.

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