Oil rig diving had been on my list for quite some time and I had been planning on trying this unusual dive adventure since I had sent out my dry suit for repair last Christmas. I was hoping for the repair to take no more than a couple of weeks, but for some reasons, it took nearly 4 months. So when it came back a couple of weeks ago, I was kind of bummed out because the oil rig season was sort of over. I don't really need the dry suit for beach diving and the local shore dives had been so great that I was not really too much into booking a dive trip to Catalina... Then came an announcement that the Magician was running an open boat with 3 dives to the oil rig! I quickly tested my drysuit with my new BC in the pool to make sure my weights were right and I quickly registered for the trip. I was in!

The condition forecast was terrible all week. Surfline indicated a 15ft+ surf "out in the ocean" while NOA was projecting 25kts winds and 10ft surf... But when the week-end finally came, actual conditions seemed to be OK and the captain decided that the trip was a go.

We left the docks  and made it to our first stop, oil rig Eureka, in about an hour.

The briefing made by the captain himself was very precise and  thorough, highlighting all the aspects of the dive that makes it different from your usual kelp forest dive: oil rigs are in the open ocean, depth is around 700ft so you'd better be adequately weighted if you don't want to end up at the bottom all mashed up inside... Open ocean means that there is no protection from surge and surf, you basically get what the ocean has in store for you at that time. Our oil rigs here in California are active (drilling baby, drilling!), that means there's a lot of noise and it makes it hard for the crew to give directions without yelling their lungs out, it's not that they're mad at you, it's just that they have to! It also means that the dive boat does not have priority over the working boats and is directed to use the crappy side of the rig (meaning the side where the wind and surge will push you right into the structure)  for drop-offs and pick ups... Finally, visibility can be a challenge but is usually dependent of depth: you can have a layer of super good viz and a layer of not too good viz. A little bit like a thermocline, but with visibility.

I jumped in the water with all these recommendations spinning inside my head and made my way to the structure. I had to wait for my buddy who was in the second drop-off and I noticed that Surfline's projection was not that far from reality. A couple of times, I thought I was going to hit the horizontal beams of the rig when a wave lifted me a few dozen feet vertically... Better watch out!

My buddy did not make it. As soon as he entered the water, one of his regulators started free-flowing (no it was not freezing, but just in case, my new MK-17 is freeze-proof, especially when the water is in the 50's). I waited to see if he would solve his problem and join me but the captain signaled  that my buddy was calling off the dive. Oh well. I turned around and noticed that of course all the other divers had dropped already. I was by myself, in an unknown environment, in the surf, in the surge and, judging by the couple of glances I cast earlier underwater, in very poor visibility. Oh, what the heck, I thought, let's get down there and check it out, I don't need no buddy, I'm an experience diver after all. All that, most likely to re-assure me when I slowly started descending into the green abyss, not really feeling that great after all...

So it was really green. Like pea-soup green. Viz was probably less than 3 ft (1m). I decided to follow a pillar down. The vertical surge was unbelievable  At first I thought I was very poorly weighted. I could not figure out if I had too much or not enough weight. One moment I would drop down 10ft, the next I would be back up 5. Very unsettling. There have been reports of ear baro-traumas because of this strong vertical surge. The fact that I am still not  used to the way my new BC handles its buoyancy did not help either.

But I survived. I ended up around 50ft and started following horizontal beams covered in invertebrate life, mostly strawberry anemones of various colors and hundreds of brittle stars. These are great macro opportunity and as I started fiddling with the controls of my camera, I began to relax and could at last start diving. I was hovering above one of the horizontal beams when I noticed a couple of Garibaldis. I was surprised to see them here, I had not expected them so far out. I even found one of their nests, but I decided not to to play with them as it seems it can be considered marine life harassment and that is strictly illegal. I'm sure Garibaldis can sue me for that, they're California's state fish after all... I also noticed a big rock fish laying around but all I got was a fish-butt photo.

Looking down deeper, the visibility seemed to look better so I decided to make a trip to 75ft. Visibility there was indeed way better, probably in the 40ft range. Unfortunately, with the thick pea-soup above there was not a lot of light at that depth. I was looking for giant metridum outcrops for a picture but it seems those were found deeper than where I was. Oh well.

I decided to go back up, wondering how I will handle my safety stop in the vertical mayhem. Had it been witnessed by anybody else than the couple of sea lions that came visited me and provided a welcome distraction, I would have lost all credibility. Imagine me, hugging a pillar full of mussels and anemones, fighting to stay at roughly the same depth despite the surge and surf for about 3 minutes. Great. I tried to get away from the pillar to shield myself from the current, but every time I felt like I was shooting to the surface like a breaching whale, so I ended up returning to my beloved pillar. Humbled.

Once my safety stop finally done, I realized I had surfaced right in front of the boat (it was totally unplanned and unusual for the poor navigator I am). I started swimming towards it when a female sea lion decided to jump from one of the rig platforms and dove right next to me! I looked underwater and just before she disappeared into the green abyss I saw her do a somersault and send air bubbles right back at me... She did not seem to have any problem with the surf, surge or crappy viz!

Back on the boat, the captain offered to call off the second and third dive that were planned and go back to port as the conditions were definitely not optimal. Even though I was ready to try again, I was secretly relieved when everybody agreed. On the way back we spotted a fin whale.

I really think that oil rig diving can be a great experience in calmer and better conditions. I will definitely try it again. On the positive side, I know I can dive solo in terrible conditions, even though it greatly increases my air consumption  and consequently shortens my bottom time... I'll have to remember that next time I shore-dive by myself!

As far as picture go, the poor visibility at the depths I was called for macro. I shot Tv 1/125 auto-macro.