SeeCalifornia.com

A California sea lion takes a “crude” ride in Southern California aboard the Eagle Augusta, a crude oil tanker. Hailing from Singapore, the tanker is longer than two football fields, and when fully loaded with crude oil it weighs over 100,000 tons.

Substantial volumes of crude oil and petroleum products are transported off the California coast from foreign countries, Alaska, and between California production sources. The Los Angeles/Long Beach and San Francisco Bay harbors include some of the highest volume oil importing ports and refining facilities in the United States.

It’s been 26 years since the last major collision occurred along the California coast in 1987 when the Atlantic Wing (a car carrier) and the Pac Baroness (a dry bulk carrier) collided off Point Conception, sinking the Pac Baroness. Safety measures that were subsequently created included: Areas to Be Avoided (ATBAs) such as Channel Islands, precautionary areas, safety fairways, traffic separation schemes, vessel traffic information services and lightering in which large quantities of Middle East crude oil are delivered to California refineries using a special Very Large Crude Carrier tanker which transfers its crude into smaller, double-hulled shuttle tankers.

For up-close views of these massive tankers, you can take harbor boat tours in Long Beach or special tours sponsored by the port.  To see sea lions, definitely check out the annual Sea Lion Festival at Pier 39 in January!