Directions to Adventure

NOSC Tower

Location

1.1 miles off Mission Beach, San Diego.
GPS coordinates: 32°46.315 N, 117°16.121 W
The site is usually marked with a mooring buoy, but if it is gone a depth finder is needed to help find this one.

Skill Level

Beginner to novice. With a maximum depth of 65 feet, this is a great site for new and beginner divers.

General Information

Built in 1959 and used through the late1980’s, a small steel tower was affixed off Mission Beach.  Although it looked somewhat like a small offshore oil rig, that was not its purpose. Rather, it was a research platform for the Naval Electronics Lab (NEL) and Naval Ocean Systems Center (NOSC), where it got its name.  It once stood over 100 feet tall and was the naval research center for measuring internal waves, swell, wave propagation and numerous other oceanographic areas. Consisting of four stories, the tower had a dive platform, and above that the research labs.  The research platform was a permanent landmark off the coast of Mission Beach, before the Navy decommissioned the tower and donated the research facility to the Scripps Research Institute of Oceanography (SIO) in 1988.

 

Before SIO could take up residency in the tower, San Diego saw some of the most intense storms in recent history.  During one of these storms, huge waves battered the Tower and during the night, a massive wave struck the deserted tower toppling it over.  Luckily, no one was involved in the collapse and it couldn’t have been planned as an artificial reef any better.

 

Today, it's a tangle of girders and beams from 30 to 65 feet. A previously good dive site, is now even more intriguing, as time and the inhabiting marine life have really developed the site in one of the most colorful and populated in San Diego.

Marine Life

The thick growth of mussels attract a large number of pisaster stars including ochre, giant-spined and short-spine stars. They grow to enormous sizes, as much as two feet across, feasting on the abundant food of mussels and other bivalves.

Steel that is not covered in mussels is adorned in anemones. The deeper sections are a patchwork of different color versions of corynactis while shallow portions are home to carpets of aggregating and green anemones.

The wonderful underwater "jungle gym" is thickly covered with filter feeders like strawberry and yellow anemones, purple and brown gorgonians, hydrocorals, mussels, sponges and urchins. Amongst the anemones and algae, look for nudibranchs, tiny crabs and small reef fish.

Barred sand bass are abundant on the bottom. Cabezon cruise the debris. Hovering mid-water are numerous sheephead and calico bass. Keep an eye out mid-water also for jellies as they seem to be common in this area.

 

Conditions

The conditions are usually good, with favorable visibility. The bottom compostion is flat and sandy with scattered beams surrounding the site. Be aware that entanglement hazards do exist, it’s not a bad idea to have a sharp knife or cutting tool handy due to the popularity of fishing this artificial reef.  It is very possible to see broken fishing line, lures and the occasional anchor line.

Depth

Top of the structure at 30 to 65 feet at the bottom. Average dive depth 50 feet.

Visibility

Variable in the shallows due to plankton blooms, but typically very good at depth. 15-40'

Photography

The "Tower" is a must see for divers exploring the underwater world of Wreck Alley and makes for a wonderful photo opportunity. Excellent wide-angle shots available under good vis conditions and good macro for many creatures. This is a good dive site for the macro-photographer. Not only are subjects abundant, but the many angles of the structure allow for shooting in a variety of positions. Wide-angle photographers will do well at the bottom. Shoot up through the wreckage to capture the blizzard of fish in the colorful labyrinth of twisted steel.

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