Plane wreck at Wood's Cove?

[Jake]

Sorry if this has already been covered here, but I couldn't find it through searches.

I read in my new issue of Scuba Diving mag that there is a plane wreck in 40 feet at Wood's Cove in Laguna.

Anyone have any info on it? Location, orientation, condition, etc? Web searches don't yield anything either.

Thanks!

 

[miket]

Only the engine is left and it looks like a funny shaped rock. The only reason I noticed it is that there was an urchin at the bottom of one of the piston cylinders. It is very hard to find as it is in between a bunch of boulders and it is just covered with life and growth.

According to Dale Sheckler's Calfiornia Shore Dives book the plane wreckage is to the south and out a bit from the reef that just breaks the surface. This is the reef straight out from the west side of the beach. It is south of a small underwater arch according to Dale's map. It's in 40 feet of water.

It was a cessna that crashed, in the 70s or early 80's I think. I bet it was fun for people that could dive Wood's Cove back then, now it's just a lumpy rock that looks exactly like everything around it. Still, it was cool to find it when my buddy and I did.

- MikeT

 

[ShakaZulu]

Funny, I read the same article and was going to post the same question.......hmmm, better plane wrecks here in San Diego, but you have to go deeeeep.

 

[miket]

Was the article in the July issue? I haven't gotten the August one in the mail yet. I think my postman reads em first.

- MikeT

 

[SoCalAngel]

There's actually a lot more there than just the engine block. Actually, according to a couple of ol'timers, there are at least two wrecks in Wood's cove. One is from WW2 (a training accident - NOT the F4U Corsair from Crystal Cove). There are actually a TON of wrecks - both boat and plane along the OC and LA coastlines. Your best bet to get more specific info on them is to attend a California Wreck Diver Club Meeting in Torrance. It is on the last Wednesday of the month. Check CDN for specifics or go to their website at http://www.cawreckdivers.org/. While they don't say much online about Wood's Cove, if you talk with Steve Lawson, he knows ATON about wrecks in So Cal.

Also, check the wrecks forum, there used to be several threads about this and other so cal wrecks there. I remember posting in a couple of them, too...several years back, of course