Introduction
Sometimes readers only see the big successes and don’t realize that we do a fair number of dives that don’t result in finding a new airplane. We have been diving targets in search for the Ables S-3 Viking for quite some time. We recently conducted some additional Iver3 AUV scanning with UCSD on board the Marissa and had more targets to dive.
I went out on 28 Nov 2025 with Jeremy Roth to check out some of our additional targets. Below is a map of the area with the four possible targets:
We had amazing conditions that day. The Pacific Ocean literally looked like a lake. The photo below is exiting the harbor and there is usually a decent swell coming straight into the harbor. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it this flat.
Dive 1 – Debris Area (225 fsw)
We spent some time scanning the four targets above and didn’t see much fish on any of them. We decided to dive a target where we did some some small returns and a little bit of fish. It was in between the debris field in the upper left and the wing that we had found earlier.
Jeremy and I dropped in and there quite a bit of current and, oddly enough, it increased as we got deeper.
By the time I got to the bottom, there was a stiff current. Jeremy had a scooter so he went off and did some exploring while I stuck around close to the downline. There was definitely debris in the area but very little fish and nothing that looked aeronautical. There were a few random white cups (nothing with markings). There were some things that were brass including what looked like a housing for a light. It was pretty large and very heavy (with a random spoon in the foreground). I cleaned it up a bit while underwater to see if I could find any markings but was unsuccessful.
Below are some photos:
My total runtime was just under 70 minutes.
Dive 2 – “Crop Circle” (220 fsw)
This one was a bit odd and we couldn’t figure out what it was. Below is a picture of the AUV data. You can clearly see a circular pattern with one long, straight line in the upper right.
Our goal was to scan the area that gave the bright return that was also close to that straight line. Once again, there was very little fish on the sonar but “the AUV doesn’t lie” and Lora was eventually able to find an area that had some return so we dropped on it. It turned out to be another random debris field that had random cups, bowls, plates, etc. but nothing with markings. I also saw an old, small boat propeller.
Jeremy managed to snap a quick picture of me before I splashed.
Below is a gallery of some photos I took while there.
We had a nice ride home with dolphins giving us an escort. You can see just how flat the ocean was even at 3:30pm.
Next Steps
Tyler’s theory (and it is a good one) is that a lot of the debris fields that we are seeing on the AUV scans are from when they dumped dredged junk from the harbor. Of course, this complicates things immensely since it can be hard to tell the difference between a “real debris field” like the “Mystery World War II Plane” and junk like this. Our best indicator right now is a lack of sealife but that doesn’t always hold true.
Not only do we have to contend with dumped airplanes, but now we also have dumped dredged debris fields — both of which are in the same area as the S-3 Viking that we are trying to find.
We have some additional dive days planned and probably need to spend another day with the Iver3 AUV scanning the area to the west. Stay tuned for updates…
