Tower Base I-beams lead down slope to
the tower bell.
Flange
on top of the bell where the sub
coupled to the lock-out chamber above the bell.
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The Tower
Apart from a few
Island locals, the former test platform for the Beaver submarine was
largely forgotten as a dive site for nearly two decades. In 1990, the
tower was rediscovered when a boat fouled it's anchor on one of the
mooring cables that anchored the structure to large concrete blocks. At
that time, the tower stood upright a few hundred feet offshore, with the
bell's lockout hatch at 130 fsw, and the base at 195 fsw. The skyscraper's
silhouette against the blue water had an otherworldly
appearance.
In 1992, a Great White shark approached
two trimix divers, who then started the local tradition of abandoning
anchor line decompressions in favor of swimming inshore to the kelp beds
off Blue Cavern.
Sometime during the spring of 1993, an
anchor caught and broke the tower's western rigging, causing the structure
to fall perpendicularly to shore. The bell landed in 210 fsw near deep
patch reef. In the years since its demolition, the tower's neighborhood
has declined. Gone are the schools of fish that once swirled in the water
column above the structure. The carpet of yellow zoanthid anemones that
covered the bell and grated deck have been displaced by silt.
While still a good dive, the twisted
I-beams of the tower's base point up-slope to the bright, living reef,
where the best part of the decompression dive awaits.
Ring Reef
The northwest corner
of Ship Rock falls steeply to a sandy incline that begins in 165 fsw. Down
slope, a series of reefs arc like stepped retaining walls, holding the
sand back on one side, while dropping abruptly to the next level on the
other. On the ring reef at 225 fsw, chimney sponges hide rock fish that
peer curiously out at divers. The north face is equally entertaining, with
long rock fingers projecting into deep water. Here, the sand also slopes
steeply, bringing 300 fsw deep water to within a few hundred feet of the
rock. Decompression on the rock walls rewards divers with some of the
finest shallow water in California. Walls of invertebrates, schools of
baitfish, and the occasional pelagic surround the rock.
Bird Rock Wall
The northeast
side of Bird Rock tumbles down in a series of stepped ledges, beginning
with a gorgonian-covered wall at 60 feet, and continuing below 200 feet.
While not as lively as the slope off Ship Rock, the sand is littered with
relics lost by the past century's boaters, fishermen, and
divers.
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