Trip Report and Photos
The Sea Divers on the Sea Bass - July 29, 2006
The Wrecks of the Palawan and the Star of Scotland &
The Los Angeles Hyperion Outflow (Sewer) Pipe
Saturday morning The Sea Divers boarded the Sea Bass for our 7am departure. The Sea Bass had moved to a new dock at Ports O' Call in San Pedro. Now located behind a Crab Restaurant it was pretty easy to find.
We shoved off and headed toward Redondo for our first dive on the Palawan.
The Palawan
The Palawan looked a little different than usual from the surface - the buoy marker was missing! After several runs over the wreck our Captain dropped anchor near the bow.
Our dive started with the trip down the anchor line to the wreck. We weren't exactly anchored on the wreck, but we were near by on a sandy bottom cris crossed with piling debris. It took a little searching to find the structure. These are some of my Photos from the Palawan.
The water, at least near the surface, was warm - 68º+, and visibility has been good at 20+ feet. Even with the good conditions, it was necessary to start a Score Card.
The Sea Diver 2006 Palawan Score Card |
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>Hall of Shame - Didn't find the Wreck - Roger, Chris, and John |
Hall of Fame - Found the Wreck |
The Star of Scotland
Next, we headed to the Santa Monica Bay to visit the Star of Scotland.
This time the anchor was in the sand a little further from the wreck. It took a some searching to find the structure. Chris located the wreck by matching his surface GPS heading up with his compass. I used the "no brainer scientific method" and followed Gene Greenberg's line from the anchor. I spent some time floundering in the sand with Gene while we ran a search pattern, but eventually, we got it right.
The visibility on the Star of Scotland wasn't as good as on the Palawan, but, it was the best that I've seen for the area. There were several black sea bass sightings on the wreck.
After this dive, we once again found the need for a Score Card.
The Sea Diver 2006 Star of Scotland Score Card |
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Hall of Shame - Didn't find the Wreck - Walter, Jeanne, and Laura |
Hall of Fame, Found the Wreck |
The Los Angeles Hyperion Outflow (Sewer) Pipe
Our last dive site of the day was the Outflow Pipe of the Hyperion sewage treatment plant. The vicinity of the outflow pipe is a "no anchor zone" so we used a live boat drop off and pick up. At the site of our drop off, the top of the pipe was approximately 35 feet deep and the surrounding sand was about 50 feet deep. We were miles from the actual outflow area.
The pipe was an amazingly interesting and colorful place to dive. It was covered with gorgonian's and other invertebrate life. Crabs were prevalent in the rocky pipe supports. Walter videoed two sheep crabs mating and later found a huge lobster molt.
The Trip Home
We had a fun day of diving on the Sea Bass. There was a lot of sleeping going on on the way home.
Thanks to the Captain and Crew for a terrific day!
We were also happy to be reuniting someone with their lost property. The week prior to our trip Frank Farmer put the following post up on the diver.net BBS:
"Expensive trip today: dropped my Manta Sr. reel returning from a STAR OF SCOTLAND dive. Had that monkey for over 15 years. When I bought it, it was under 50 bucks, new they're now over 150 buck-o's, slightly less on Leisure Pro, but when you add in shipping...
Anybody got a used one, Jr. or Sr. I could buy? I'm missing my "baby"; boo hoo."
On our trip, John Delaney found Franks Manta Reel near the Star of Scotland.
Phil Garner (aka Max Bottomtime) met us at the dock to pick up the reel.
And, finally later in the week, Frank got his reel back!
A happy ending for all!
Until Next Time.........