To my disappointment, I was only able to dive this wreck twice in 2015. It does not have a permanent mooring so sometimes our skipper was unable to find it but the most common reason for not diving it was simply because we had one or more inexperienced divers aboard our boat. Masts excepted, the wreck only rises a maximum two metres off the 27 metre deep seabed making it a deep dive suitable only for experienced divers.
Mind you, diving from Let’s Go Adventures’ MV Tomaree in October, I wished the dive on the Oakland hadn’t gone ahead! Near the surface conditions were good with visibility of 7 metres and little surge but down on the wreck, conditions were very different with 3 metres visibility and a wickedly strong surge. I enjoyed the challenge of diving in such a powerful surge but photography was almost impossible. Fortunately my second dive in December from Let’s Go Adventures’ Dive Away was much better.