Wreck Alley facts for kids
Wreck Alley, sometimes called "Sunken Harbor," is a special area in the ocean near Mission Beach, San Diego, California. It's a place where several ships were purposefully sunk to create artificial reefs. These sunken ships are now popular spots for scuba diving and wreck diving, attracting divers who love to explore underwater shipwrecks.
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What You Can Find in Wreck Alley
Wreck Alley is like an underwater park! It's an artificial reef and a fantastic place for scuba diving off the coast of San Diego. Besides the sunken ships, you can also find old ocean platforms and parts of the old Ingraham Street Bridge here.
These sunken structures create perfect homes for lots of sea creatures. The cold, nutrient-rich currents bring plenty of food, so many animals that filter food from the water, like anemones and scallops, compete for space to attach themselves.
Amazing Sea Life
You'll see many types of anemones, especially the bright white Metridium anemone and the Corynactis californica anemones. But there's much more! The wrecks are covered in scallops, barnacles, tunicates (sea squirts), zoanthids (another type of coral-like animal), crabs, starfish, brittle stars, nudibranchs (sea slugs), and many kinds of fish.
The Ingraham Street Bridge
Another cool dive spot in Sunken Harbor is the old Ingraham Street Bridge. When Mission Bay was updated, parts of the old bridge were placed in about 60 feet of water. Some parts of the bridge, especially where the current is strong, are covered in filter feeders, just like the shipwrecks. Other parts look more like natural reefs, with kelp, sea fans, and algae growing on them. Because there's more cover here, you'll often see more fish than at the shipwrecks, especially at night. It's also a good place to look for lobsters when their season starts!
Most of the main shipwrecks in Wreck Alley are marked with buoys on the surface, making them easier for divers to find.
The Yukon Shipwreck
The Yukon was a Canadian navy ship, a Mackenzie Class Destroyer. It's one of the biggest wrecks here!
- Length: 366 Feet (111 Meters)
- Built: 1959
- Sunk: July 14, 2000
- Depth: From 68 Feet (at the highest point) to 105 Feet (at the lowest point)
- Position: Lying on its left (port) side
The San Diego Oceans Foundation bought the Yukon specifically to sink it in Wreck Alley. Many volunteers worked hard to clean the ship and make it safe for divers. They even cut holes in the hull so that divers could easily get out if they went inside. From inside, these openings look like glowing green screens!
The Yukon is the newest wreck in Wreck Alley, so it's still very much in one piece. It was originally planned to have a long hallway, called the Grand Promenade, that divers could explore easily.
An Unexpected Sinking
Before it was sunk, there was a big "Sink My Battleship" game for publicity. The winner was supposed to push the button to sink the ship. But, the night before, a strong wind came up, and the Yukon sank on its own! Unfortunately, it landed on its left side, which made the Grand Promenade much deeper (105 feet). This meant it became a dive site for advanced divers instead of intermediate ones.
The Yukon was a warship, not a cargo ship, so it has many narrow passages and small rooms. Divers need to be careful because a lot of sand and silt has entered the wreck.
The Ruby E Shipwreck
The Ruby E was a Coast Guard Cutter, a type of ship used by the Coast Guard.
- Length: 165 Feet
- Built: 1934
- Sunk: 1989
- Depth: 85 Feet
- Position: Upright
The Ruby E was originally named the Cyane and was built in 1934 in Seattle, Washington. It was designed to help enforce Prohibition (a time when alcohol was illegal).
During World War II, the Ruby E helped search for submarines and rescue people. It also escorted other ships along the West Coast of the United States. After the war, it was sold and used as a fish-processing vessel. Later, it was sold again, renamed the Ruby E, and turned into a salvage vessel (a ship that recovers things from the sea).
From Seized Ship to Artificial Reef
Its new owners had money problems, and the bank took the ship. It sat in San Diego harbor until the San Diego Tug and Barge Company bought it. In 1989, the Ruby E was purposefully sunk as an artificial reef in Wreck Alley (also known as Sunken Harbor) off San Diego.
The Ruby E has several easy places to enter, but divers should only go inside if they have experience and are careful. The easiest place to enter is the wheelhouse, which has round portholes. Another interesting spot is the engine room, where you can see two large diesel engines. The Ruby E sits upright on the seabed, leaning only slightly to its left side. Most parts of the wreck are easy to reach. The front of the Ruby E points north and lies in about 90 feet of water.
The wreck is in good condition and is a popular dive.
The El Rey Shipwreck
The El Rey was a special ship called a Kelco kelp cutter. It used to harvest the top three feet of kelp (a type of seaweed) from the ocean, all the way from Point Conception to Mexico. It could carry a huge amount of kelp, up to 300 tons! Because of its job, it had a very unusual look.
In its 35 years of service, the El Rey made about 3,600 trips and traveled over 800,000 miles. It was retired in 1981 and was supposed to be scrapped. However, the San Diego Council of Diving Instructors and The California Department of Fish and Game asked for it to be used for an artificial reef program instead. Kelco, the company that owned it, donated the ship. It was thoroughly cleaned to prevent pollution and made safe for divers. On April 2, 1987, the El Rey was towed to Wreck Alley (Sunken Harbor) off San Diego. A U.S. Navy Demolition Team used explosives to sink it, and it landed upright on the bottom.
Over the years, the wreck has started to break down, but many fish now live inside it.
The NOSC Tower was an old research tower built in 1959 about half a mile offshore. It was used by the Naval Ocean Systems Center (NOSC) for ocean research. One day, after a big storm, it was gone! Now, it sits in sixty feet of water. It looks a bit like an oil rig.
Today, it's an amazing artificial reef, completely covered in colorful sea life, especially thick growths of bright Strawberry Anemones. There are also many fish living around it. Because it was knocked down by a storm, it's the only truly "accidental" wreck in Wreck Alley. The remains of the tower are covered in Corynactis anemones.
Ingraham Street Bridges
The Ingraham Street Bridges used to cross Mission Bay. When new bridges were built in 1985, the old bridge parts – huge pieces of roadway, railings, and pillars – were placed in the Wreck Alley area. They are all jumbled together on the seabed.
These bridge pieces are now home to many fish and other crawling sea creatures. You can also find many clumps of strawberry-colored Corynactis anemones on the lower parts of this reef. On the flatter top sections, pink and brown Gorgonian sea fans grow thickly.
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