Where: Olympic Wreck and the Oil Rigs

Depart from: San Pedro, Maritime Museum

When: Friday, July 26 or Friday, Nov. 1, 2024

Time: Board at 6:00 am, depart at 7:00 am with us getting back about 3:00 pm.

Cost: $230.00 includes 3 dives, light snacks, and water & air-Limited to 12 divers

ALL TRIPS are weather-dependent

If you have any questions, please get in touch with Ken at

info@channelislandsdiveadventures.com or call (805) 469-7288

The Olympic was built in Ireland in 1877 as a 3-masted ship and was 258′ x 38′. She was later sold and relocated to Washington State in the early 1900s to haul lumber, where she later worked in Alaska. In 1934, she became a fishing barge that was renamed the Olympic ll and moved to San Pedro. On September 4, 1940, when she was hit by another boat, the Sakito, and sank fast. The Olympic now sits a few miles from Los Angeles Harbor in 100′ of water. 

Diving the Olympic ll can be fun. She sits on her starboard side and her bow is relatively intact, standing some 30 feet off the bottom. There is no penetration diving on the Olympic ll and visibility can vary but either way, it is still a FUN wreck to dive. 

Diving the oil rigs Eureka, Elley, and Ellen can be a fantastic experience. Eureka (about 700’ deep) is the furthest out of the 3, and in most divers’ opinion, it is the best to dive. Elley and Ellen (around 260’ deep) are not far from Eureka and are about 8 miles out of Long Beach. Elley and Ellen are connected by a bridge, which makes them more like an oil rig complex. What makes an oil rig such an incredible dive is the amount of life that lives on the legs and cross braces. You then have the schooling fish and sea lions swimming around the structure. 

The rigs are a photographer’s dreams come true. The visibility can vary depending on conditions and depth from 20’-100’. Generally, the best vis is 60’ or deeper. Diving the Oil Rigs-Video 

 Advanced divers and above that have experience in cold water conditions including; current, swell, possible limited visibility and deep water. The oil rigs visited are unique and interesting and inherently have more hazards and may not necessarily have the best dive conditions. Most importantly, good buoyancy control is needed and surface signal tubes are always recommended 

 The SoCal Diver is new to dive trips around Catalina, Palos Verdes, and the Rigs and is available for charters only. The two people responsible for managing the boat operations and scheduling charters are Jeff Reeb and Seamus Callaghan. Jeff has been a long time active diver who has worked on both the Giant Stride and Peace dive boats along with serving as a Divemaster for Ocean Safaris dive shop. Seamus is currently a manufacturing rep for Huish and another longtime diver who has owned and run other dive charters. Jeff is more in charge of the operational side of the boat and Seamus mainly takes care of scheduling and setting up charters. 

The Socal Diver is a 46’ ft x 16’ ft Newton dive boat built in Slidell, LA. but it is different than most Newtons because it has a compressor with an air bank, and depending on the need they can crank it up to fill high-pressure tanks to 3400 PSI. It’s a fast boat, usually traveling around 17 knots, weather permitting, compared to many of the other dive boats that travel around 8 knots. Read more about the SoCal Diver HERE.