(From My Inbox Today...)2nd post of the day
Source: Dive News Wire
Second-largest vessel ever to be scuttled as artificial reef, is relocated to shipyard for preparations. After 10 years of fundraising and permitting, a project has begun to sink a retired military ship off Key West, in the Florida Keys, to serve as an artificial reef.
Last Friday, the decommissioned U.S. Air Force missile-tracking ship Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, a 524-foot ship that also monitored NASA space launches from 1963 to 1983, was towed from the James River Naval Reserve Fleet in Fort Eustis, Va., to Colonna’s Shipyard in Norfolk, Va.
The ship also saw “action” as a film set in the 1999 movie “Virus,” starring Jamie Lee Curtis and William Baldwin.
The ship is to become the second-largest vessel in the world ever intentionally sunk to become an artificial reef, according to maritime and sport diving experts.
Artificial Reefs of the Keys has $3 million in commitments from two Monroe County, Fla., government entities, a $1.3 million pledge from the City of Key West and other funding resources to help defray the estimated $5.7 million price tag to properly sink the ship, according to Joe Weatherby, the project’s coordinator and founder of ARK.
Make-ready and cleansing is being coordinated by ReefMakers, and is expected to take about a year. The ship is slated for scuttling about six miles off Key West in spring 2008.
The proposed artificial reef is expected to attract marine life, provide ongoing positive impact to the tourism-based economy and benefit the underwater environment by taking recreational diving pressure off natural coral reefs.
“She’s an eye-popper and doesn’t look like anything else out there,” Weatherby said, noting the large electronic tracking dishes that are to be removed and then reinstalled on the ship before sinking. “Portions (of the ship) will come up to within 40 feet from the surface, making it a world-class dive.”
For more information on the Vandenberg, dive into www.bigshipwrecks.com
Last Friday, the decommissioned U.S. Air Force missile-tracking ship Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, a 524-foot ship that also monitored NASA space launches from 1963 to 1983, was towed from the James River Naval Reserve Fleet in Fort Eustis, Va., to Colonna’s Shipyard in Norfolk, Va.
The ship also saw “action” as a film set in the 1999 movie “Virus,” starring Jamie Lee Curtis and William Baldwin.
The ship is to become the second-largest vessel in the world ever intentionally sunk to become an artificial reef, according to maritime and sport diving experts.
Artificial Reefs of the Keys has $3 million in commitments from two Monroe County, Fla., government entities, a $1.3 million pledge from the City of Key West and other funding resources to help defray the estimated $5.7 million price tag to properly sink the ship, according to Joe Weatherby, the project’s coordinator and founder of ARK.
Make-ready and cleansing is being coordinated by ReefMakers, and is expected to take about a year. The ship is slated for scuttling about six miles off Key West in spring 2008.
The proposed artificial reef is expected to attract marine life, provide ongoing positive impact to the tourism-based economy and benefit the underwater environment by taking recreational diving pressure off natural coral reefs.
“She’s an eye-popper and doesn’t look like anything else out there,” Weatherby said, noting the large electronic tracking dishes that are to be removed and then reinstalled on the ship before sinking. “Portions (of the ship) will come up to within 40 feet from the surface, making it a world-class dive.”
For more information on the Vandenberg, dive into www.bigshipwrecks.com
More travel details on the Keys are available at www.fla-keys.com
Keys Diving Notes
Island Sun Splash
The Upper Keys Dive Association is planning Island Sun Splash, June 10-16, featuring a week of family adventure activities in the Upper Keys. Activities range from subsea photo and video seminars to Discover Scuba Diving classes to an underwater scavenger hunt.
Visit www.divecapital.org for more details.
Dive Safety Program, Event Announced
Dive Alive, an initiative designed to enhance sport diving safety in the Keys, is to be highlighted by a Lobster Diving Rodeo and Safety Expo Monday, July 23, in the Florida Keys. The free event is to be staged on the campus of the Florida Keys Community College in Key West, two days prior to the July 25 opening of Florida’s special two-day mini-lobster season. More details on the event and Dive Alive program, as well as a free downloadable dive safety card, are available at www.divealive.org
Dive Safety Program, Event Announced
Dive Alive, an initiative designed to enhance sport diving safety in the Keys, is to be highlighted by a Lobster Diving Rodeo and Safety Expo Monday, July 23, in the Florida Keys. The free event is to be staged on the campus of the Florida Keys Community College in Key West, two days prior to the July 25 opening of Florida’s special two-day mini-lobster season. More details on the event and Dive Alive program, as well as a free downloadable dive safety card, are available at www.divealive.org
