Technical Scuba Diving
The SS President Coolidge is one of the best wreck dives in the world — a 600-foot luxury liner turned troopship, sunk in 1942 and still nearly intact. Here's her story, and mine: 8 dives, cargo holds full of jeeps, a doctor's office, an engine room, and everything in between.
An unidentified WWII Corsair rests off Turtle Bay, Espiritu Santo — and figuring out whose it was turned into a real research rabbit hole. Eleven candidate aircraft, a missing propeller with no good explanation, and a mystery that's still open.
A technical diver's detailed trip report for the SS President Coolidge in Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu — covering routing options, the Fiji Air baggage saga, Pacific Dive, accommodation, and three remarkable WWII dive sites.
The author revisits the PBM Mariner wreck off Point Loma to improve a previous photogrammetry model, dealing with minor equipment issues and poor surface conditions during the dive. The new model features enhanced color and detail, providing a more accurate visual document of the historically significant wreck for an upcoming book.
Photogrammetry model of a deep TBM Avenger that crashed in 1952. Bureau Number is 53439.
Introduction I've always loved the F-4 Phantom. There is a well-known F-4 Phantom wreck in the Torrey Pines area of San Diego (actually, very close the P-38) that is about 150 feet deep. I've dove it a couple times and it is usually dark and limited visibility. For my upcoming book, I had gone further [...]
Introduction One of the wrecks that I am writing about for "Aviation Wrecks of Southern California" is the F4D Skyray that crashed in the 1950s. The pilot, Leo J. "Pete" Colapietro bailed out at 650mph and living to tell the story. I had previously posted some great photos I recently received from a family member. [...]
There has been plenty published about the Georgia fishing boat (which was originally mis-identified as the Retriever). For background, I would recommend reading the California Wreck Divers web page on the Georgia / Retriever. I had gone with Ray & Kyaa at Sundiver back up to the F4D Skyray in Santa Monica Bay to work [...]
Intro Tyler and I had been planning a trip to the Coronado Island with Lora at Marissa Charters for a very long time. It was deferred at least 2-3 times due to weather, unplanned trips, etc. We finally got down there in early February 2026. Tyler had a friend who had seen an airplane wreck [...]
In 2022, a P-38 wreck was discovered off Solana Beach, leading to initial photogrammetry modeling. As skills improved, a recent dive on January 22 aimed to enhance the quality of the model for the book "Aviation Wrecks of Southern California." Despite complications, a clearer, more accurate representation was successfully created.
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