Kyle,
Here's some info from the Divebums website, located at
http://divebums.com/main.html
They have lots of great information on local dive sites, including photos, coordinates, visual line-ups etc. They also have a great creature / plant I.D. section, and lots of cool local underwater videos. I hope this info helps.
John-Boy
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NOSC Tower
The NOSC (or NEL) Tower was built in 1959 and lasted until the El Nino storm in January, 1988. Her labs stuck some 50 feet out above the water until the morning after the big storm, when she was simply gone. When standing, her footprint was approximately 40 ft. by 40 ft., and she was a bit over 100 ft. tall. She did not fall straight when she went down, she twisted. Parts of the labs at the top were broken off by the storm and never found. The Tower at times has a marker buoy, and at times does not. The tower coordinates are N 32 46.360, W 117 16.113. The Tower sits in about 55 feet of water and has 20-25 feet of relief.
NOTE, Jan 2002: After some complaints about the previously posted Tower GPS coordinates, I did more digging around and took my WAAS-enabled GPS out there. The coordinates above are new and improved! Look for big relief on your depth-finder and you'll have it. Also, you can use these line-ups (sorry, no photos yet): Sea World Tower on the third arch from the right on the Belmont Park facade; end of Crystal Pier pretty much on the right edge of the tall hotel (condos?) behind the pier (the left of the two taller buildings in P.B. behind the pier).
A little background from Brian Williams about the Tower (remembering, of course, that much of the above-water section of the Tower is NOT a part of the now submerged wreck): "The NOSC tower actually had four levels: there was a 'surface' or 'entry' level deck and diving platform (the lowest and smallest level); the level above that contained winches and other devices which were used for lifting equipment. The next floor up was the primary work area: this was a well-sheltered area with an electronics room, a general purpose room, and a bunk room that slept about a half-dozen or so. The fourth level was the top level and had antennae for wind-recording or solar measurement instruments.
The Tower was used for all kinds of programs involving the study of internal waves, surface water temp, swell and wind waves, acoustic studies, electromagnetic / wave propagation studies, biological studies, etc."
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