Technical Scuba Diving
Introduction After we deployed the AUV with UCSD/Scripps, we had a few targets to dive in our quest to find the S-3 Viking. We conducted two dives on 3 October 2025 and this was the second dive (more on the first dive in another post). This target was actually at the very southwest corner of [...]
Background For close to a decade for Tyler and over 5 years for me, we have been trying to find a S-3 Viking that crashed off Point Loma, California in the late 1970s. The project got started when Tyler was contacted by the daughter of the pilot Kenneth Ables whose body was never found. We [...]
In June 2025, a Cessna 414 crashed off Point Loma, killing all six aboard. Three months later, we found and positively identified the wreck at 200+ fsw — providing closure to the family and documenting the site.
Two Avengers collided during torpedo practice off Anacapa Island in 1945. One wreck lies at 120 fsw. The other, with three men aboard, has never been found. Includes the accident reports, war diary entries and a photogrammetry model.
Background A number of years ago, Tyler and I saw a drop-camera video of what appears to be a radial airplane engine and information that it was taken somewhere in Santa Monica Bay -- but we didn't have a location. That engine and video was located by Harry Davis Jr who recently passed away but [...]
Two Corsair wrecks off Orange County, found and documented in a single day of diving.
Introduction I can finally report: On November 7th, 2024 we successfully dove the US Coast Guard Cutter McCulloch. I am confident that we are the first team to dive the wreck. NOAA / USCG found the wreck in 2016 and there have been a few videos released from ROV footage, but I haven't seen any [...]
Background Danny Graham, Mike Wynd, and I spent two days at Catalina Island diving targets that Tyler Stalter had given us. As we were searching around and running scans, I noticed a "Wreck" marker on Danny's system and asked him what it was. He said he hadn't dived it yet and it came from another [...]
Background The Missile Tower is an artificial reef created from an old Trident missile testing tower. It is very close to the US/Mexico border and sits in about 160 feet of water. It is a popular dive site for technical divers and is commonly used for training classes since it is big target and it [...]
Intro One of the tools that I have been using and experimenting with is an Insta360 x4 camera. They make a few different cameras but the one I have has two spherical cameras that face outwards and is used to film a complete 360 view video. Photos of the x4 from the Insta360 Website The [...]
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