Any Old Iron - Diving the artificial reefs of S.E.Florida
Manatees, Springs and more wrecks - Diving the Springs and the Panhandle coast
Key notes of an island hopper - Diving the Keys
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Diver writers look at the variety of diving to be found in Florida, the playground and retirement capital of the USA. First, John Bantin descends to scrap-metal heaven: the
collection of defunct yachts, aircraft, freighters and oil rig sections which make up the artificial reefs of the south-east coast (including the Captain Dan, opposite)
Any old
iron...
BORN IN THE USA! Bruce Springsteen's voice echoed down through the water from a high-powered sound system on the dive boat above, but barracudas hovering in the area seemed unmoved by the din. The vessel was the Dry Martini, operating out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, under captain Walt DeMartini, a character who claims the only time he ever refused a drink was when he hadn't understood the question.
We were diving the wreck of the Jay Scutti, a 32m tugboat sunk 11 years ago in 20m of water as one of many boats forming a line of artificial reefs off south-east Florida.
A couple of inauspicious natural reefs run the length of the state's eastern seaboard, but more notable is the long line of wrecks, about two miles from shore. Yachts, aircraft, tugs, freighters and sections of oil rigs make up what is probably the most extensive artificial reef system in the world.
Built in Holland, and originally called the Arikok, the Jay Scutti was confiscated by the authorities after being caught smuggling marijuana. A local businessman bought the boat and renamed her in memory of his son before sinking her.
She makes a good introduction to wreck diving in the area, and is a relatively simple dive, provided you can handle the fast 1-2knot northerly current, which seems almost continuous in this part of the world.
Once you have hauled yourself down the line from the dive boat (most divers use much of their air supply for this initial, arduous part of the dive), the superstructure provides plenty of shelter. You will find a large cavity in the sand under the rudder which I shared with a hoard of grunts and a mean-looking barracuda.
Fort Lauderdale lies midway between Miami and Palm Springs, on a highly-developed stretch of coastline. In a concrete jungle of freeways and towering condominium blocks, "honest lawyers" proudly advertise the fact in their office windows, and you meet beach babes with hair by Clairol, bodies by Dr Fisher and minds by Mattel.
Moored alongside the Dry Martini, directly outside my hotel in Fort Lauderdale, the Lady Go Diver was a similar US Coastguard-certified dive boat, operated by the laconic Ray McCullen. I went out with Ray to dive what is probably the most famous of all Florida's wrecks: the Mercedes 1.
An ugly, 500-tonne freighter, the Mercedes 1 broke free from her anchorage and ran aground during a storm in 1984. She ended up in the swimming pool of a local socialite, and the crew calmly walked ashore.
The State of Florida had the job of clearing this unsightly item of litter from one of its most expensive stretches of real estate when the Mercedes 1's owners abandoned her.
It cost $200,000 to send her to the bottom as an artificial reef. She was stripped and cleaned, and holes were cut in her sides and bulkheads. She was loaded with TNT, floated out to the chosen point and spectacularly sent to the depths with true American razzamatazz, pyrotechnics and explosions, watched by 20,000 people. She now lies in about 30m of water.
With Lady Go Diver tied off on the wreck, we took time to photograph a number of small nurse sharks that broke cover, before following the structure of the bow back to where we thought we had started. To my surprise, we seemed to end up at the stern, and by now we were well into our decompression stops.
I thought we were lost, and decided to make a controlled ascent without the help of the down line. Then I realised the problem - Hurricane Andrew, which devastated the area in 1992, had folded her stern, complete with its superstructure, up alongside her bows. Very disorientating!
Hog Heaven makes a good dive to follow the Mercedes 1. In only 20m of water, she is a 60m-long barge sunk in 1986. She is subject to strong currents, but to enjoy a relaxing dive you have only to go into the lee of the upturned hull, where you will find all the marine life doing the same thing.
Another good dive boat operating in the area is the fast island-hopper Grateful Diver, operated by Errol Kaylaci.
Fully qualified with all the technical diving agencies as an instructor-trainer, Errol can accommodate the needs of almost any diver, from ordinary leisure diving through to extended-range, rebreather and trimix, and even diver propulsion vehicles. I went with him to dive on the wrecks of the Jim Atria and the shallower Captain Dan.
The Jim Atria was originally named the mv Poinciana. A Dutch-built freighter of about 70m, she capsized and sank in the Miami River. She was originally towed out and resubmerged on her side in about 30m, but the angry seas of Hurricane Andrew picked her up and repositioned her perfectly upright and on an even keel in 40m.
She now makes an ideal nitrox 32 dive, and I found that by getting down towards the seabed at 33m I could swim easily into the current and enter the wreck through any one of the numerous rectangular holes cut into her sides.
Her holds offer plenty of shelter from the strong currents, which flow through the wreck with nutrients to support a healthy growth of corals and hydroids. Giant green moray eels enjoy the shelter provided by the wreck, too.
My second dive with Errol - on the wreck of the Captain Dan - proved even nicer. This was once the mv Hollyhock, a former US Coastguard tender. At 60m long, she might have made a nice private yacht - or so thought a missionary who purchased her when she was decommissioned.
However, mechanical problems left her stranded and she was towed to the Miami River and sold to the Florida Boating Improvement Program to become an artificial reef. She now sits upright in 33m off Pompano Beach, too far for most dive boats to travel from Fort Lauderdale. The Captain Dan is overgrown with corals, full of baitfish, and is patrolled by numerous predatory great barracudas up to 1.5m in length.
Near Miami in the south, almost directly offshore from Hollywood (Florida, not California!), the Tenneco Towers (also known as the Tenneco Shallows) is a dive that no visiting diver should miss. Not one, but three different dive sites - three sections of a former Gulf of Mexico oil-drilling rig - were sunk in around 30m, about 100m apart. The top of each is at 20m, and the sites include the original upper derrick structure and the working deck.
The Tenneco Deep is at 60m, which makes it a favourite site for Florida's technical-diving community. It is composed of the original massive legs of the oil rig, which was sunk in 1985.
This wreck is the largest artificial reef in Florida and is covered in an awesome amount of marine growth. It gives shelter to vast quantities of fish, as well as the bull and Caribbean reef sharks that feed on them. Also close to Miami is a site for those who want the ultimate two-tank dive: two army tanks complete with gun turrets have been sunk in 15m.
Then there is the Hydro Atlantic, a seagoing dredger built at the turn of the century. She had several owners and name changes before she was finally bought by a company called Hydromar in 1968. In 1987, at the end of a long working life, she was being towed to a scrapyard in Texas when the hull finally gave out and some steel plates parted. She was lost in 50m off Boca Raton.
Because she sank accidentally, this wreck still comes complete with cranes, winches and cables. And there are large grouper, hogfish, and lobsters. She is over 100m long, and near the depth limit for ordinary air-breathing diving. Florida divers will tell you she makes the best wreck dive in the world! This is a good site for an extended-range dive, using nitrox to decompress, and there is an excellent chance of seeing some Caribbean reef sharks while you are waiting to surface. (Nearby, at Finks Grouper Hole, dive centres are emulating their Bahamian neighbours, encouraging sharks to stick around by feeding them.)
The south-east coast of Florida makes a good destination for those whose exclusive interest is in scrap metal. British wrekkies would find themselves at home on any of the area's wrecks.
There are quite strong currents, and some dives demand deco-stops or even technical approaches to diving. But anyone who has dived on the Kyarra, off Swanage, will manage these wrecks, and enjoy the increased visibility and more spectacular animal life found here. But it will always feel odd to surface to the sight of Florida's urban skyline.
Since Miami airport serves as a gateway to many popular Caribbean and Central American diving destinations, travellers who wish to break their journey may stop off here and get in some wreck diving before moving on to the more picturesque stuff.
