ANY Lost Coast diving???

[humdiver]

I was just wondering if anyone has ever dived the Lost Coast Im talking about the area BETWEEN Shelter cove and Eureka area I know vis is minimal and divable days are few but out of curiosity was wondering if anyone ever had the balls and/or reason to dive this area. Ive heard and read stories of spanish gallions coming into areas like Bear Harbor and Big Flat and having to hike over the mountain range (Kings range)(get out the map) Obviously thier boats must have met some sort of demise if they had to hike the range it would be interesting to know if anyone has ever found one of these.
Ive also been told stories of caves up in that Kings range that supposedly hide the gold from these gallions
Legend or myth Id love to know!!

 

[Scuba Cowboy]

A few years ago we did an expedition to Delgado Canyon a few miles north of Shelter Cove. This canyon comes in close to shore and drops off to several hundred feet deep. Great diving, very interesting life. Went back last year and dove it again, also dove reef right out of mouth of Shelter Cove. The diving is good, you'll need a boat to get to the good sites. Very remote, wild area that I believe gets dove very little. I'm sure theres been wrecks there but don't have any info on any. Go explore it and let us know what you find. I'd love to come back up there.

 

[icantdive55]

I was just wondering if anyone has ever dived the Lost Coast Im talking about the area BETWEEN Shelter cove and Eureka area I know vis is minimal and divable days are few but out of curiosity was wondering if anyone ever had the balls and/or reason to dive this area. Ive heard and read stories of spanish gallions coming into areas like Bear Harbor and Big Flat and having to hike over the mountain range (Kings range)(get out the map) Obviously thier boats must have met some sort of demise if they had to hike the range it would be interesting to know if anyone has ever found one of these.
Ive also been told stories of caves up in that Kings range that supposedly hide the gold from these gallions
Legend or myth Id love to know!![/QUOTE

I've dove the area known as the false cape a couple of times. Out of Humbolt bay it's 15+ miles south. The spear fishing is GREAT. Vis varies but is usually poor by popular standards. If you want to know more about Ship wrecks in this area look for a book called "California Shipwrecks" Footsteps in the sea by Don B. Marshall. I believe that they have recently gone back into print. Mine is the first edition copywright 1978. If not you may find it at a used book dealer. It's packed full of factual information.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

A few years ago we did an expedition to Delgado Canyon a few miles north of Shelter Cove. This canyon comes in close to shore and drops off to several hundred feet deep. Great diving, very interesting life. Went back last year and dove it again, also dove reef right out of mouth of Shelter Cove. The diving is good, you'll need a boat to get to the good sites. Very remote, wild area that I believe gets dove very little. I'm sure theres been wrecks there but don't have any info on any. Go explore it and let us know what you find. I'd love to come back up there.

Hey Dale, how's it hangin'?
I was going to say the same thing.
I know of another spot further up towards Cape Mendocino around the Matole river. The water is usually really dirty and there are long stretches of sandy beaches, but there is also a canyon that comes into shore that is more extreme than Delgada. On my typo maps it shows right offshore a rock in 3 feet of water and only a few feet away it vertically drops to 228 feet. This area is very shark infested and just a few miles south of the cape so the wind is relentless. There is a giant sea lion colony that hangs out right there so I would imagine that it's a prime GW feeding ground.
It's also very isolated (oceanically) so although it may be accessed by kayak getting there by boat would mean either going out of Eureka or Shelter Cove and it would be many miles either way to get there. Once you get there there are no safe anchorages to hide in so if the conditions went bad you could be screwed.
There is a road that goes along that whole area and Petrolia is not far away. It is believed that the biggest recorded ab was taken somewhere around Petrolia but John Pepper won't tell us exactly where.

ZKY