2022. 8. 21 | Oil Rigs Ellen and Eureka

I joined a Power Scuba group boarding Pacific Star and visited offshore oil rigs Ellen and Eureka. Diving conditions at the oil rigs are always hit-and-miss, and you can never know what will show up beneath the ocean surface. I stayed on the boat overnight, and we headed out around 6:15 in the morning under the overcast sky. The ocean surface was choppy, and the captain aborted the original plan of doing the first dive at the Wreck of the Olympic II.

Our first stop was the oil rig, Ellen. I geared up and jumped into the water as soon as the ship gate opened. I swam quickly from the boat to the rig structure and descended from there. The world turned much more peaceful underwater. The visibility was average, about 20 ft, but it turned much clearer below 70 ft. The pylons were covered with life – beautiful sea anemones, giant scallops, huge mussels, and everywhere else carpeted with brittle stars. The water column was less eventful. The highlight was a playful sea lion at the end of my dive.

After the dive at Ellen, we moved to Eureka, another oil rig nearby. I always had better luck at Eureka. Indeed, the underwater condition in the second dive turned much better. The visibility improved much to about 40 ft. The water felt warm in the lower 60s. There were many pockets of much warmer waters, and I could see the blurry layer of mixing. Besides the improved condition, large schools of blacksmiths and sardines showed up shoaling around the pylons in the middle of my dive. Fish schools are my favorite scene. They do not always show up around the oil rig. The fish liked to hang outside the rig structure but would come inside for protection if the sea lions started to swim around. Sometimes the schools got dense, and their dance with the oil rig on the backdrop was breathtaking. I enjoy watching them very much.

We decided to stay at Eureka for the third dive. It was not long before I entered the water, but the condition worsened. The underwater world turned much darker, and the surge felt stronger. However, the fish schools were still there. I returned to the corner of the rig where they liked to hang out and enjoyed watching them again. In this dive, I also paid more attention to the life on the pylons. I found a large garibaldi attending its eggs. I also saw a lot of other fish such as painted greenling, Cabazon, and a lot of sheepsheads. The gaps among some pylons were filled with baby fish. It was a fun dive. 

The ride back to the dock was smooth. Although the surface condition was not optimum, the underwater experience was fantastic. I am looking forward to going back to the oil rigs soon.