Saturday August 13, 2005

Sea Bass Charter by Hollywood Divers

Oil Rigs Elly and Eureka

 

Story and Photos © Elaine Jobin, may not be reproduced in part or whole without advanced written permission

On Saturday, I went on the Sea Bass to our offshore oil platforms with Hollywood Divers.

Some divers on this charter were new to the oil rigs, and, some had been there many times. The spectrum was well represented as there were recreational divers, photographers/videographers, and the technically oriented. There were no hunters as "take" from the rigs was not allowed. The boat was definitely "gear intensive", primarily with the technical diving stuff - talk about schlepping..

We received our boat briefing as we departed the harbor. Then it was time to get into the gear as the trip to the rigs only takes about an hour.

Our first stop was at the Elly/Ellen complex. Elly is a processing platform, and Ellen is a production platform. We dove the one on the left, which I believe is the Elly.

One of the goals for some divers on this trip was to do a deep technical dive. Their goal was to "hit bottom" at Elly, and, they did it. They said that it was "beautiful down there". The bottom glistens due to an accumulation of shells. The marine life is "incredible", and that visibility was about 80 beautiful feet. These are photos of the two who said they found the bottom at about 225 feet.

These are photos of them refueling with some beverages and snacks. One also did some extra nigtogen washout, he wasn't bent, he was just being cautious.

On my dive I maxed out at about 90 feet. There was some current, the visibility dropped around 80 feet (but reportedly opened up deeper),and it was very overcast so ambient light was low for wide angle. These are a few of my photos from this dive at Elly.

Next it was time for a surface interval;

and, we headed on to the Oil Rig (Platform) Eureka

The Eureka sits in deeper water (about 700 ft.) so no one tried to reach the bottom here. Visibility was 60 to 70 feet, but the overcast skies continued to make it dark inside the rig.

A turkey sandwich lunch made our time on the last surface interval fly by. The compressor didn't want to work as much after lunch so we had some brief topside entertainment as it was booted back into action.

We stayed at the Oil Rig Eureka for our last dive. I gave up on the sun and changed to macro.

Our dives completed, we headed back to San Pedro. Congrats to the new rig divers, to the old rig divers, and those that kissed the bottom at Elly.

And, thanks to our crew - Captain Drew, DM Scott, and Deck Hand Clint. We had a wonderful day.

Until next time.......