JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Divers and anglers will soon get two new artificial reefs offshore Duval County.
A decommissioned Navy tugboat and the hull of a scrapped sailboat will be towed east of the St. Johns River and sunk by the end of October. The deployment could be sooner if reef planners get a favorable weather window opening.
The resting site will be about 27 miles east of the St. Johns river in 90 feet of water. If all goes as planned and the tug sinks right side up, the top should be accessible to recreational divers at 65 foot depth. Ideally, both vessels will be located close to each other and in the same general vicinity as the Spike tugboat sunk in 2009.
The planning and vision of both the Spike and these new boats are organized by local reef builder, Think It, Sink It, Reef It or TISIRI. This latest addition builds on other artificial reef habitats they have been installing offshore northeast Florida for over a decade.
Months of planning has gone into permitting and prepping the boats for their sandy seafloor graves. The work is always difficult getting the boats in safe shape for divers. Months of hard work and volunteering have gone into stripping away environmentally hazardous components.
Both boats are ready and will soon be towed from the staging marina at Mobro Marine in Green Cove Springs out the St. Johns River entrance to one of two areas permitted for artificial reefs.
Joe Kistel who heads the local artificial reef program hopes everything will go smoothly during the sinking. Right now a few weather systems are standing in the way of deployment.
As soon as the weather clears News4Jax will bring you pictures of the sinking.