Dive report: Crescent City

Dove off of CC as part of my AOW course.
Dive #1 was at Star Rock, about 2 miles off shore from CC. Prior to entering water observed 3 Stellar Sea Lions on the rock and one swimming on the leeward side. Man those males are big. Swells were small (2') wind was minimal. Water temp at surface was around 52. We dove the eastern side of the rock. Surge was present but manageable. Vis was about 15 feet (good for up here). Saw lots of starfish, rock fish, and anemones. Dove to 80 feet. Water temp was a balmy 46 degrees here. Stellars did not make their presence known during dive. My first deep dive in cold water. I was a bit anxious at first, but settled once we got to depth.

Dive #2 off of Steamboat Rock, just outside of CC harbor. We were able to locate remains of SS Emidio. An oil tanker shot up by a Japanese sub off Cape Mendo in 1941. Crew abandoned ship. Tanker drifted North until it ran aground at Steamboat rock. Was blown up by our gov't to clear the entrance to the harbor. The section we saw was about 30 feet long by 15 wide buried in sand. Portholes and frame still visible. Vis was about 5-10 ft. on bottom (45 feet). Saw lots of baitfish and krill. As well as crabs, about the size of a quarter. Bottom was a mix of sand and rock. Water temp was around 50 degrees.

Great experience

This is a great dive report!
This is the kind of stuff I'm intersted in. I like knowing what goes on in the far northern end and what diving is like in that part of the state besides Socal and Monterey. I think Monterey is boring as hell and not worth the drive. I go to Socal once in a while to meet up with friends and do some diving. The diving is OK but I don't think It's as good as North Coast. BTW, Monterey is Central Coast or some call it Norcal, but it ain't the North Coast.
I gave up posting reports about the North Coast because there seemed to be very little interest in the diving up here, so I considered posting reports about it a waste of time.

Keep up the diving!

You should also post your report on northcoastdivers.org

ZKY, post your reports . . . I used to live in Northern California, and I devour the dive reports from anywhere on the north coast. I live a Northern California diving life vicariously from them.

I had no idea there was any significant diving off Crescent City. I used to stay there often, when driving between Portland (where I lived for two years) and San Francisco.

Thanks for the encouragement. Diving up here is very iffy. All dependent on weather. Just received a good dousing of rain which will louse up the diving for the next couple of days. Alot of rivers up here, so rain=run off. CC, if the weather is good, is a nice place to dive. Water is clearer than surrounding areas as there are fewer rivers with substantial run off. Speaking of rivers, I dove the Smith River earlier this summer between the 101 and 199 highways. Deep hole of 45-50 feet. Vis was about 25-30 ft. Saw some trout (rainbow), but too early in the season for the big guys (salmon). With the big rocks there, it reminded me of doing a wall dive. Water on the Smith runs about 64-68 degrees. My goal is to do SW Seal Rock where the old light house is. But I'm intimidated by it. It's on the western tip of St. George's Reef. Very exposed. I had a friend dive it (very experienced) and he encountered a substantial vertical surge (he estimated in excess of 30 feet). In addition it has the biggest Stellar colony on the west coast. Those guys are massive. My friend told me one day they went in, got down 20' and noticed a substantial decrease in sunlight. They looked up and saw "a cloud of Stellars" looking down at them. I've heard stories of fin nipping, eye to eye encounters, and even a Stellar grabbing a diver's arm like a bird dog would grab a duck (gentle like). Again, intimidating. I'll only do SW Seal rock with someone who knows it well. If anyone makes it up to Humboldt county, let me know....always ready to take the plunge.