Posted by Max Bottomtime on September 16, 2003 at 18:00:31:
In Reply to: Re: OK posted by seahunt on September 16, 2003 at 17:15:02:
The Johanna Smith was a gambling ship that sank off the Long Beach breakwall. The Valiant is next to the Avalon U/W park. There are many rocks mixed in with the sandy plains at Horseshoe Kelp. That was the reason the Olympic was there in the first place. I've never found any large, productive reefs in the area, but they must exist. During the Summer you can find virtually hundreds of fishing boats in the area. The wrecks themselves make excellent habitats for the local critters. One of the great things about shipwrecks as artificial reefs is you can find many different types of marine life assembled in one small oasis in the sand. I've always been impressed by the fact that I have seen a Yellowfin Tuna, dolphins, yellowtail, metridium anemomes and a Wolfeel just a couple of miles away from the places I used to beach dive. The most amazing thing to me though is the fact that Garabaldis are rare on these wrecks. It's not the typical SoCal diving. It's close, yet so far away.