Yukon and Lazy Days on the 4th

This is a much delayed dive report. On the 4th of July Adam and I headed out on our first trip with the Marissa to the Yukon and the Lazy Days wrecks. I liked them and will be back. The only minor complaint I had was that it can be a very crowded boat for gearing up as everyone is on a single tank. Everything else about the charter was great – food, crew, and operation were all top class.

I’m beginning to know the outside of the Yukon like the back of my hand. There was a layer of green muck from 20-50′, but it cleared up nicely under that on the wreck. It was the first time since last year I could actually go out on the sand and take some shots of the wreck. Now I can only wish for some blue water instead. I tried some B&W photos to avoid the messy color space issues.

I had never been on the Lazy Days wreck, mostly because the Marisa crew had found it just a few months earlier. It seems to be the popular spot to head to these days, but I hope it doesn’t get too chewed up by the crowds. The wreck is broken up over a stretch of sand that leads to the edge of a kelp bed and some nice boulders. There is a nice mix of sea life here that makes for a nice dive. Visibility was also decent here, though more light was getting through the bloom.

Eureka Oil Rig dive

Off shore oil rigs stretch from Long Beach to Santa Maria on the coast of California. Some are decommissioned, but most are still in active operation. These rigs are in deep water; their support structures rise from depths of 600 feet. These pillars and cross beams act as an open water oasis – a home for reef & wall critters, and a resting/feeding stop for open ocean species. These rigs are also no-take zones, which mean there is no fishing or harvesting allowed near them.

Some of these rigs allow dive boats to bring out scuba divers to explore the bits of life that now call the support structure home. The Eureka Oil Rig off the coast of Long Beach is one of those rigs. I signed on with three other divers to explore the rig and then chum for sharks in the Avalon Channel with the Psalty V out of San Pedro.

We were lucky and caught 60 foot visibility on the rig that morning. Sea lions barked from the catwalks above, but didn’t get in the water to play. The supports are covered in anemones, scallops, and invertebrates. In parts the supports are at angles, in other parts, vertical in groups, like Greek columns. Reef fish like sheephead, calico bass, and garibaldi buzzed around us as we explored. In open ocean away from the structure I found several types of salp – barrel shaped filter feeders. It was a gorgeous dive.

Next up we chummed for several hours in hopes of finding some blue or mako sharks in the channel. Unfortunately, nothing showed up. Another unfortunate indication that shark populations are decimated. It used to be a sure thing to find sharks in the channel, now sightings are very rare. With time and proper legislation and enforcement, some day it may be a sure thing again.