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Southeast: Wreckreational fun
Known as the Wreckreational Dive Capital of the Americas, Miami offers more than 30 sunken
ships, tanks, concrete and limestone structures, and even a water tower. However, the area's most famous wreck is the Orion, a 120-foot tugboat. (This site has been stripped for safe diving so that it can be entered.) For natural habitat, on the other hand, turn to The Emerald and Rainbow Reefs off Key Biscayne and the reefs of Biscayne National Park. Encompassing approximately 180,000 acres, 95 percent of Biscayne National Park is underwater. <http://www.miamiandbeaches.com/>
Just a little further north, Fort Lauderdale awaits with a three-tiered natural reef system and easy
beach access to many sites that's hard to match. In addition, there are more than 80 artificial reefs created by sinking everything from a 435-foot freighter 200 feet beneath the surface to a 94-foot DC-4 airplane. <http://www.sunny.org/>
Head north to Palm Beach County and you'll soon straddle both the northern temperate and the
tropical zones, which can mean encounters with sealife from both climates. This includes turtles along the region's coral ledges. (The best time of year is summer when turtles nest on the beaches.) Year- round, a nine-foot statue of King Neptune lies 60 feet below the surface just south of a dramatic ledge. While another popular site, the Princess Anne is a 400-foot car ferry sunk in the 1980s. A 70- foot tunnel called The Cave also awaits120 to 160 feet below the surface. (An exit is visible from both sides.) <http://www.palmbeachfl.com/>
North of the Palm Beaches, the area around Stuart is home to several natural reefs and four artificial
reefs, including the USS Rankin, a 459-foot attack cargo ship commissioned in 1945. The reefs in this area are all about three to eight miles offshore. <http://www.goodnature.org/> |
