First Paying Customers Scuba Dive HMAS Adelaide

You may remember we reported the Aussies were preparing to sink the Adelaide back in July of 2009. Almost two years later, the wreck is finally open for business.

The first paying customers are expected to get up close and personal with the wreck of former HMAS Adelaide at Avoca Beach this weekend.

Tickets go on sale at 10am this morning for the chance to dive the controversial wreck, with divers to pay a minimum of $78.

Depending on the weather the first group is expected to check out the wreck on Saturday.

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Video: Cancun's Underwater Museum Teeming with Marine Life

We've been following Cancun's underwater museum for some time now, first previewing the project back in March 2010 and following its progress since.

Here's a new video -- with terrific underwater and behind-the-scenes footage -- that shows how the work has truly become a sprawling reef system teeming with marine life.


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From Pete Thomas Outdoors:

The project was ambitious from the beginning; it involved more than 400 life-like concrete statues, meticulously carved to resemble a cross section of human society, and strategically placed across 420 acres of ocean floor.

The life-size figures were fully in place late last fall within Cancun's National Marine Park beyond the Mexican resort destination, with the support of park officials and the Cancun Nautical Association.

The sprawling museum was designed to attract scuba divers, thus relieving pressure from the area's more fragile natural reefs.

Also, by creating sculptures of people from various walks of life -- from an 85-year-old nun to a 3-year-old boy, to a doctor, fisherman and student, etc. -- the artist delivers a long-standing message that environmental issues affect everyone.

DeCaires Taylor, who is from England, explains on his website: "The installation portrays a gathering of people, illustrating how we are all facing serious questions concerning our environment and our impact on the natural world. The work is optimistic and forward looking, expressing hope that there will be unity in dealing with this problem."

Now that colorful reef fish and other sea creatures have discovered sanctuary amid the sculptures, some of which have grown masks of coral and algae that attract and support smaller life forms, the evolution of DeCaires Taylor's finished product is in fact silent, and wonderfully evident.

USS Arthur W. Radford to Serve as Artificial Reef

The decommissioned Navy destroyer will be sunk off the coast of Maryland, not to mention the 563-foot vessel will serve as the largest artificial reef to be planted on the East Coast.

"It's just a very big, bodacious project, and I have every expectation it will be a fantastic reef," said Hawkins, who is also an Ocean City Reef Foundation board member.

The boat's sinking location has been mapped to be roughly equidistant between Indian River Inlet, Cape May and Ocean City. Environmental entities from the three states are collaborating on the effort, with the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control leading the project.

The vessel will be sunk in the Del-Jersey-Land artificial reef, where numerous other objects and vessels -- including wooden dry docks and two World War II era U-boats -- have been sunk previously, Hawkins said.

The new reef site should eventually be a big economic boost and an attraction for fishing and scuba diving, said Erik Zlokovitz, artificial reef coordinator for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

"It's going to be a great fishing habitat and an impressive site for scuba divers," Zlokovitz said. "I think it'll be an economic boost, and fishing and diving boats from all three states are going to benefit."

An firm date for the sinking is not yet set, but officials are hoping for a time in late May or June, pending final federal approval for the project and weather cooperation.

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Scuba Diving the Vandenburg

A terrific glimpse into Talking Scuba host Bob Shoemaker's recent dive adventure on the USNS Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg.


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Photos: Cayman Islands Sink 1945 Submarine Rescue Vessel

The latest addition to Cayman's network of artificial reefs is the USS Kittiwake.

Contractors began flooding a decommissioned U.S. Navy ship Wednesday to sink it in the clear waters off the Cayman Islands, where officials hope the vessel will attract tourists and fish.

Plans called for the USS Kittiwake, a 1945-vintage submarine rescue ship, to rest on a sandy bottom off Grand Cayman's Seven Mile Beach. The 47-foot-tall (14-meter) ship will be at a depth of 62 feet (19 meters), so the top deck should be close to the Caribbean Sea's surface, making it easily accessible for snorkelers and divers.

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The ship, which was in commission from 1946 to 1994, was decommissioned on September 30, 1994 and struck from the Naval Vessel Register that same day. The Kittiwake's title was transferred to the government of the Cayman Islands for an undisclosed amount in November of 2008.

Check out the stunning Kittiwake Sinking Pictures by Elly Wray (via Sunset House Cayman)

Here are a few selections:

(click image to enlarge)










Let's dive!

Mexico's New Artificial Reef Made of Sculptures... of Real People

You may remember we previewed this story back in March.

A bit creepy, perhaps (imagine a night dive at this site). But interesting, nonetheless.

These astonishing images show an extraordinary new artificial reef off the east coast of Mexico made entirely from human statues.

The underwater installation has been created by British artist Jason de Caires Taylor who used real people to create the 'life casts' made from materials which encourage coral to grow.

It is hoped the new sculptures will produce a coral reef system and attract a variety of aquatic creatures to the Cancun and Isla Mujeres National Marine Park.

See more photos...

Ukrainians Ask to Use Russian Ships as Artificial Reefs in the Crimea

Seems like a good use for some of the old Black Sea Fleet.

This would help to maintain the ecological balance and make up for the negative consequences of trawler fisheries.

Divers hope that the command of the Russian Black Sea Fleet will be able to provide them with one or several old vessels, the ones that are supposed to be cut up for scrap metal.

Commenting on the initiative, a deputy from the Yalta City Council, Igor Zorin, said, “Unfortunately, the Ukrainian fleet has very few ships – so there is not much to be sunk.”

The ships would be sunk at a depth between 20 and 40 meters so they would not hamper navigation. It is expected the vessels will be first cleaned of fuel and other polluting substances.

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USS Arthur W. Radford Will Help Create East Coast's Largest Artificial Reef

The U.S. Navy Spruance class destroyer is on track to be the largest ship ever reefed in the Atlantic Ocean.

The state of Delaware announced Wednesday that it had received from the U.S. Navy the title to the USS Arthur W. Radford. Delaware taking ownership of the mothballed 563-foot destroyer was a key development in the plan to sink it at the Deljerseyland Reef, an underwater site that serves New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland.

The reef is 30 miles from Cold Spring Inlet, 30 miles from Ocean City, Md., and 26 miles southeast of Indian River Inlet, Del.

“The ship will be released within the next couple weeks and moved to dry dock for tentative sinking in late summer or early fall,” said Bill Figley, a retired reef coordinator for New Jersey working on the project.

...

The superstructure on the 9,000-ton ship will be lowered to achieve a navigational clearance of 60 feet at the reef site, which is in about 130 feet of water.

“We need to reduce it to 70 feet from the keel to the top of the wheelhouse. It’s now over 100 feet. It would be nice to have it completely intact, but then you have to sink it in deeper water,” said Tinsman.

Deeper water would also reduce diving times. Water depth is a factor in how long divers can stay on a site. From a scuba diving perspective, Tinsman said, the shipwreck would be set up for recreational divers with the keel at 130 feet but the deck at only about 65 feet.

“The deck allows quite a bit of diving time,” said Tinsman.

At almost two football fields in length, and 55 feet wide, it would still take several dives to see the whole ship.

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Alright, all you E.Coast divers. What do you think?

Military Divers Pulled from Artificial Tire Reef Cleanup Project

You may remember back in July of last year we brought you the military tire reef cleanup story.

Well, with all that's going on in Haiti and elsewhere in the world, troops have haulted the cleanup due to thinning resources.

Military divers are being pulled off a project to clean up an artificial reef off the coast of Florida that turned into an environmental disaster.

The divers have spent the last three summers pulling up thousands of tires a mile off the beach at Fort Lauderdale.

Hundreds of thousands were sunk there in 1972 in hopes they would turn into a coral reef. But nothing grew and they became scattered across the ocean floor, damaging real coral reefs.

The military began cleaning up the tires as a training exercise at no cost to the state.

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The earliest the cleanup could continue is 2012.

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It's a shame the cleanup apparently won't resume for another two years, but it's entirely understandable given the support our military is doling around the globe.

California Assembly Bill Clears the way for More Artificial Reefs

While Queensland tourism decides to back off plans for an F-111 artificial reef, back here in the states a key California State Assembly bill is clearing the way for more artificial reefs.

The ability to bring more of California’s coastline to life with the creation of artificial reefs passed a critical hurdle Tuesday when the State Assembly Committee on Judiciary unanimously approved AB 634. The bill will now be sent to the Assembly floor, where it could be voted on as early as January 18, 2010.

One major block to artificial reef projects has been the fear of liability if accidents occur while people are SCUBA diving at these sites. AB 634 protects state and local agencies from legal liability, making it possible for these agencies to support bringing these projects to their harbors.

This bill was sponsored by California Ships to Reefs, a nonprofit organization that has worked tirelessly with state governmental agencies to lay the groundwork for artificial reef projects on the state’s coast. The reefs are created by sinking decommissioned military or retired commercial vessels in appropriate locations after they have been stripped and cleaned. New habitats for ocean creatures quickly create new SCUBA diving and fishing sites. Recreational opportunities bring needed revenue to local businesses.

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Yippee!

Hat tip: ScubaNation

Queensland Tourism Backs off Plans for F-111 Artificial Reef

Nuts. That would have been a rad dive spot.

Queensland tourism authorities have backed away from a proposal to sink an F-111 fighter jet off the Gold Coast to create a new underwater attraction for scuba divers.

The idea was floated by Gold Coast Tourism's Stephanie Fuller yesterday while announcing plans for the possible construction of an artificial reef to lure more visitors.

It has won eager support from scuba dive operators, who say it could be come the first of its kind.

The State Government has commissioned a $71,800 study into the feasibility of a man-made reef, among a range of new attractions on the Gold Coast.

The F-111s, due to be decommissioned later this year, as well as other naval vessels no longer in service were touted for the fake reef yesterday, however Gold Coast Tourism spokesman John Kaarsberg said it was too early to speculate on what the artificial reef may feature.

"We were putting the horse before the cart in making any suggestion of possible dive structures," he said.

"It may not be financially feasible [to sink an F-111]

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Communist Leader's Aircraft to Lure Divers into the Black Sea

Hey, artificial reefs know no politics.

The Russian-made Tu-154 aircraft used by Bulgaria’s late communist leader Todor Zhivkov will be submerged into the waters of the Black Sea near the city of Varna to attract divers, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) said. The aircraft will be submerged at a depth of about 22 metres.

Following the suit of the German city of Rostock, Varna aims to attract more tourists by using relics such as Zhivkov's aircraft, BNR said. An almanac is being currently drawn up to include underwater landmarks of the Black Sea.

The plane, 48 metre in length, 11 metres in height, and with 38-meter wingspread, will be included in the almanac, as well. Its last flight was Sofia-Varna on September 16 1999. It used to be owned by Hemus Air and is currently stationed at Varna airport, BNR said.

Todor Zhivkov (1911-1998) was the communist leader of the former People's Republic of Bulgaria from March 4 1954 unti November 10 1989.

Military Divers Cleanup Failed Artificial Tire Reef

Not all artificial reefs turn out as planned.

Military divers returned to Fort Lauderdale this week to resume the job of salvaging hundreds of thousands of tires dumped offshore in the early 1970s in a failed attempt to create an artificial reef.

About 30 Army and Navy divers worked about a mile and a half off the beach at Hugh Taylor Birch State Park on Friday to haul tires off the ocean floor and collect them on the Army assault vessel Brandy Station. The day's catch: About 1,400 tires.

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Aussies to Sink HMAS Adelaide

Divers traveling to (or living in) Australia will soon have a new wreck to dive.

HMAS Adelaide, the ship that came to the rescue of stranded yachtsmen and terrified asylum seekers, now begins its final chapter underwater.

The decommissioned frigate was on Friday handed over by the commonwealth to the NSW government and will be sunk off Terrigal on the NSW Central Coast later in the year to create an artificial reef and dive wreck.

NSW Premier Nathan Rees said instead of being scrapped or dumped, the ex-HMAS Adelaide would be used by generations of divers.

"Coral will grow on the metal you see before you, fish will swim through the corridors that once rang with the sound of action stations," Mr Rees said.

"And divers will find a place of contemplation and beauty as nature slowly reclaims her broken frame."

The federal government will contribute up to $5.8 million to make sure the ship is environmentally-sound by stripping it and removing the fuel tanks.

Defence Minister John Faulkner said the scuttling of the ship would have long-term benefits.

"I think this is a great project, I'm very confident we'll see HMAS Adelaide become a great national, and I suspect international, attraction for recreational divers ..," he said.

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For more on the ship, check out the HMAS Adelaide page on Wikipedia.

Man Lobbies for Artificial Reef off Florida Central Coast

With all the hype -- not to mention benefits -- brought about by the sinking of the Vandenberg, it's not surprising that others are now inspired to bring something similar to other areas.

Brevard County isn't known for its diving opportunities, but a Cocoa man has a long-shot proposal to change that.

Inspired by the May 27 sinking of the Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg in Key West, which will be the world's second-largest intentionally sunk artificial reef, Dave Golding wants to do something similar about 20 miles off Brevard County's coastline where the water is 110 feet deep.

Such a reef, said Golding, a charter boat captain who has dabbled in local politics, would attract all sorts of marine life for viewing by divers. It also would create new fishing grounds.

In short, it could provide a small tourism boost.

"Right now, there is really nothing for divers to see out there," Golding said. "This will draw more people to the area, and those people will be staying at local hotels and eating in local restaurants."

Of course, a lot needs to happen before divers start checking their air regulators and tanks.

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"The ship of all ships"

Only a few short days after divers first made the first descent, already some claim the newly-sunk Vandenberg to be one of the best.

A retired Air Force missile-tracking ship intentionally sunk to create an artificial reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary
opened Saturday, May 30, to the public.

The 523-foot-long Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg is situated about seven miles south of Key West. The bottom of the ship’s hull rests on sand in depths that average 145 feet. But the ship is so massive that the superstructure begins about 45 feet below the surface.

“I’ve dove a lot of ships,” said Tom Kanczuzewski of South Bend, Ind., after surfacing Saturday. “This is the ship of all ships. I’d love to come back in a year and see all the fishes.”

Saturday morning, a lone barracuda patrolled the superstructure of the ship that once tracked the U.S. space program’s launches off Cape Canaveral, monitored U.S. defense missile test launches and eavesdropped on Russian missile launches during the Cold War.

But project organizers think it’s just a matter of days before additional marine life takes up residence.

The wreck is already fulfilling its promise of attracting visitors to the Florida Keys.

“We have calls coming in from as far as Germany and Norway from people planning to come just to dive this wreck,” said Bob Holston, owner of Dive Key West and president of the Keys Association of Dive Operators. “We have more pre-bookings for the summer now than we’ve had in 38 years of being in business.

"This is probably going to be one of the world’s classiest wrecks to dive," Holston said. "And it’s just a corner piece of the wreck trek of the Florida Keys.

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We don't know about you, but we can't wait to get over to the Keys!

Is the Vandenberg Glorified Garbage?

Mark Powell has an opposing opinion over at his blog on the sinking of the Vandenberg.

I guess [putting garbage in the ocean on purpose is] ok if you sink a big old warship and call it a "reef." In fact, it's not only OK, it's an economic opportunity. Project officials expect the $8 million cost of the project to be recovered in just a year of wreck-diving related revenue.

I like to dive underwater and look at things, but I've never understood the fascination with diving on wrecks. I'd rather look at ocean stuff than human stuff underwater. If I want to see deteriorating hulks, I can just go to a junkyard.

A bit sour for our taste -- as we absolutely love diving wrecks. It's probably safe to say the vast majority of the dive community supported and cheered the sinking on the decommissioned 1944 war ship.

But is it a stretch to at least understand why a conservationist like Powell would be a bit more pessimistic? His basic premise is that we should be putting more resources "into natural habitats" and "making natural diving better".

Fair enough.

However, commenter Tony Wildish drives home what we believe to be the primary argument in response to those who share Powell's outlook on wrecks.

I was of a similar mind about diving on wrecks, why bother? Then I dived on a ship that was deliberately (cleaned and) sunk just off Machafushi in the Maldives. Compared to the house reef, there was a lot more variety on that wreck, it clearly enhanced the local ecosystem. The amount of life on it was just incredible, and I made a point of diving on it every day I was there.

I now believe that, done properly, sinking ships like this can be a valuable addition to a reef, and a sensible way to dispose of these things. Of course, I emphasise the 'done properly'!

Bingo.

Your thoughts?

More on the Sinking of the Vandenberg

Here are just a few follow-up articles to the sinking of the Vandenberg from UnderwaterTimes:

• 'A Gift To History': The 'Vandenberg' Slips Below The Waves As The Second-largest Intentionally Sunk Ship; Sinking Picture Gallery
  
  
• 'Vandenberg' Artificial Reef Successfully Deployed Off Key West, Florida; 523-foot-vessel Sinks In 114 Seconds

Sinking of the Vandenberg

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Vandenberg Set to be Sunk

The "Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg" is set to be sunk as an artificial reef later this morning -- between 10AM and 11AM EST.

UnderwaterTimes has the details:

Background: The retired missile-tracking ship Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg is destined to become the next artificial reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, just south of Key West. The 523-foot-long Vandenberg is to be one of the three largest ships in the world ever intentionally sunk to become an artificial reef. It is steeped in history, once serving as a troop transport ship and then converted for the purposes of defending the U.S. against missile attacks. It was involved in surveillance during the Cold War. It tracked Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and even early Space Shuttle launches. The Vandenberg also played a role as a Russian science ship in the 1999 motion picture "Virus" starring Jamie Lee Curtis, William Baldwin and Donald Sutherland. The project is to provide a new underwater attraction for Key West, creating new marine habitats and relieving sport diving pressure off natural coral reefs. It will also anchor the southwest leg of the Florida Keys Shipwreck Trail.

How big is it?

Displacement: 17,250 tons

Length: 522' 10"

Beam: 71' 6"

Draft: 26' 6"

Height: 100 feet from keel to the highest point. We have trimmed the stacks and antennas to allow the required 40 feet of clearance from the surface when the ship is deployed at 140 feet. Much of the superstructure will be just 40-50 feet below the surface. The keel and the four 8-ton anchors will rest at 140 feet.

Where will it be sunk?

At 24.27 N, 81.44 W, between Western Sambo and Sand Key, and south of Hawks Channel marker #32 It is about 7 miles offshore.

The site was carefully chosen ten years ago, with input from many interested parties. Permits from eighteen different agencies define the location.

Over 130 dives were conducted to survey the site. It is on hard barren bottom with no coral and no submerged cultural resources (historic wrecks).

How will they sink it?

Cutting charges will open holes in the lower deck. Water pressure will push the cut-out plates inward, water will flow in at the bottom and air will vent out the top.

The ship has tons of ballast near the keel, which was placed there to create a stable platform for the big tracking antennas.

It will sink straight down in less than three minutes.

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Let's hope it goes down without a hitch!