11/18/26: David Finnern - "Wreck Diving in California"

Speaker Bio

Author of Lost Tales and Sunken Mysteries, David Finnern has spent over 40 years searching for lost ships and submerged ruins.He is a member and former president of the California Wreck Divers and The Adventurers' Club, and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in 2002.

David has published hundreds of stories on underwater exploration and written on-assignment for such magazines as Skin Diver, Western and Eastern Treasures, Wreck Diver, Underwater USA, Western Diver and Immersed. Finnern is the author of several books, including the critically acclaimed Passage Through Deep Water and Lost Below, and has been a featured speaker throughout the United States and on international and national television.

Topic

To most people, "wreck diving" brings visions of Spanish gold among piles of coral encrusted cannon. In Southern California, we have a vast shortage of Spanish gold, coral, and cannon, but we do have some exciting and varied wreck diving. Our local shipwrecks run the gamut from modern freighters and fishing boats, to majestic square-riggers and side-wheel steamers. Water conditions on the wrecks range from calm, protected areas to white-water diving with a heavy surge. Visibility ranges from 0 to 100 feet, and depth from the shore to 150 feet or more.

Wreck diving has something for every kind of diver. For the game diver, the wrecks are found with an abundance with fish of all kinds as they make excellent havens for marine life. For the photographer and sightseer, a wreck has countless exciting attractions. Last, but far from least, shipwrecks offer the diver an exciting look into the maritime past when ship fittings were not only functional, but highly decorative and ornate as well. Countless hours of painstaking work have restored and refurbished many shipwreck relics, providing countless opportunities to exhibit and display interesting and useful items.