Diving the Wreck Alley
Must-see sites
HMCS Yukon
Ruby E.
El Rey
Water Temp
50° to 58°F / 10° to 14°C
Visibility
10 to 50 ft / 5 to 10 m
Gear
Diving: 7mm wetsuit or drysuit, hood, booties, gloves
Freediving: 5mm or 7mm wetsuit
When to Go
Diveable: Year-round
Best: late fall & winter (best visibility)
Access
Boat only (private or commercial)
Marine Life
Giant Sea Bass
Red Gorgonian
Lingcod
Barred Sand Bass
Giant Spinned Sea Star,
Blacksmiths
California Spiny Lobster
4-hour trips to 2 different sites
Tanks and weights included
What is the Wreck Alley?
Wreck Alley, San Diego's scuba diving collection of ship-and-other-wrecks became worldwide famous for being:
- Large - West Coast's biggest assembly of artificially sunken ships
- Accessible - 15 min boat ride from Mission Bay channel
- Rich - full of colorful gorgonians and strawberry anemones
- Versatile - wrecks start at 60 ft so open water divers are welcome
The ease of access combined with the typical sunny and light-winded San Diego weather make Wreck Alley scuba diving accessible year-round.
Nutrient-rich, coldwater currents keep the area full of life. You can find the smallest of nudibranch species and a few minutes later pass by a giant seabass the size of a Volkswagen Bug!
If you're into wreck diving or want to increase your knowledge of new underwater environments, diving Wreck Alley San Diego is a must.
Video by Azul Unlimited
✨ WRECK DIVING TIP: When making your wreck dive plan, focus on one, maximum two, points of interest, so you have a safe margin of time to return to the ascent point with plenty of air.
Where is the Wreck Alley?
Our favorite local wreck sites are right off Mission Bay, on the horizon of Pacific Beach and Mission Beach, and accessible only by boat.
Some divers call it "Shipwreck Alley", but San Diego Wreck Alley diving offers more than just sunken boats. NOSC Tower and Old Ingraham Street Bridge remains are 2 popular (and shallower) dive sites along the Wreck Alley.
✨ MEXICO TRAVEL TIP: Coronado Islands diving require that you have a valid passport or passport card, regardless of its issuing country. Immigrants must hold their valid visas or residency permits, as if traveling by plane.
What marine life calls Coronado Islands home?
As the Wreck Alley sits a highway length of sand from the Point Loma Kelp Forests, you'll see similar marine life with some key differences.
These dive sites tend to get more water flow across the sand, so creatures such as giant sea bass, red gorgonian, lingcod, barred sand bass, sea star, blacksmith, and spiny lobster can flourish.
Without the protective structure of kelp and rocky ledges, some creatures like urchins, crabs, sevengill sharks, and garibaldi are rarely seen here.
Photo by Jon Schmitt
Photo by Jon Schmitt
Weekly trips in two dive boats
Closest commercial dock to the ocean
HMCS Yukon
Photo by Frankie Grant
Depth: 60 - 100 ft (18 - 30 m)
Level: Advanced (penetration cert required to enter the wreck)
The HMCS Yukon is a 366 ft Canadian destroyer intentionally sunk in 2000 as an artificial reef off Pacific Beach.
The night before the historic sinking, a strong West wind caused the vessel to start taking on water and it sank several hours prematurely.
Many local boats headed out to the site in the morning, hoping to watch the historic event, only to find it had already descended to the bottom, where it still sits in 100 ft under. The wreck is in good condition, lying hard over on its port side.
In 2021, we saw the bridge section collapse into the sand, opening even more real estate for marine inhabitants.
Video by Storied Treasures
There are several points of interest along the length of the ship, including large forward guns, a wheelhouse, and cutouts in the shape of dolphins.
Because the wreck is lying on its side, any penetration into the wreck can be disorienting and unsafe to the untrained diver.
Also because of the recent collapse, you will find new entanglement hazards which were not there before.
For the experienced diver, Yukon stands as one of the best wreck dives on the entire West Coast.
One of the largest SoCal diveable shipwrecks with plentiful schooling fish and colorful gorgonians, HMCS Yukon is a must for advanced and wreck divers.
Ruby E.
Photo by Jon Schmitt
Depth: 65 - 80 ft (19 - 24 m)
Level: Advanced
The Ruby E, originally used by the US Coast Guard as a prohibition enforcer, is a 165 ft cutter vessel.
Intentionally sunk in 1989, the Ruby E has become a fully thriving reef, filled with creatures you may not see at other wreck diving sites. It’s not uncommon to find lingcod hiding within the wreck, or even halibut down in the sand, waiting on an easy meal.
This wreck sits slightly shallower than the Yukon, so you can enjoy her anemone-covered decks even longer. Make sure not to miss the strawberry anemones on the wheelhouse or the propeller shaft, down in the sand.
El Rey
Video by David Smith
Depth: 65 - 80 ft (19 - 24 m)
Level: Advanced
Intentionally sunk in 1987, the El Rey’s original day job was to harvest kelp, a lucrative business at the time. She now works as a colorful wreck dive site with mostly undisturbed red gorgonians across her deck.
Although the El Rey wreck has less relief than its Wreck Alley counterparts, you’ll still find a considerable amount of marine life. Barred sand bass occasionally number in the thousands above this wreck!
✨ WRECK DIVING SAFETY TIP: Always carry an SMB and a reel. If ever you can’t find your way back to the ascent point, you can deploy this equipment to safely finish your safety stop and ascent.
NOSC Tower
Photo by Jon Schmitt
Depth: 20 - 60 ft (6 - 18 m)
Level: Open Water
Labeled as an 'underwater jungle gym', NOSC Tower is a unique dive site. During the 60’s and 70’s, the tower operated as a research facility standing over 100 ft tall.
After a large winter storm in 1988, the tower had all but disappeared. Most of the top structure was never found, but the underwater support are covered with marine life. The main structure is 40 ft square at its base, with pieces of the structure strewn about its sides.
Most of the metal structure, which was severely damaged in a recent storm, is covered in scallops, mussels, and other stationary creatures. Kelp bass and blacksmith roam throughout the superstructure.
Old Ingraham Street Bridge
Video by SDScuba
Depth: 50 - 70 ft (15 - 21 m)
Level: Open Water
Sunk as the newest addition to San Diego’s Wreck Alley in 1992, the rubble from the deconstruction of the Ingraham Street Bridge is a one-of-a-kind artificial reef.
Concrete blocks and slabs from the bridge criss-cross on top of each other over an area of roughly a quarter mile, with plenty of room for lobsters and eels to hide and healthy gorgonians to thrive.
With a mix of sandy terrain and large scattered square blocks, this is an easy-to-navigate and unconventional San Diego dive site.
Wrecks outside of Wreck Alley
Outside Wreck Alley's man-made borders live other diveable wrecks such as: Train Wheels in the Point Loma area, USS Hogan in the Point Loma area, Missile Tower in the Point Loma area, S-37 Submarine in the Point Loma area, and P-38 in the La Jolla area.
Aside from Train Wheels, we don't venture to these wrecks as they're all past recreational diving limits. If you're looking to scuba dive these deeper submarine wrecks, plane wrecks, or deeper shipwrecks, we recommend our friendly competition Marissa Charters, who specializes in technical diving.
Weekly trips on two dive boats
Friendly crew and creature comforts
