Scuba Diving Search For New Reef Structures

Scuba diving in low visibility conditions underwater can make finding anything very difficult. Our goal on this dive exploration was to locate artificial reef structures that were recently placed in the ocean. These items were large but somewhat difficult to locate because we could only see about ten feet of distance while swimming on the sea floor.
We did discover the underwater items we were looking for, but it was because of careful planning and precise placement of the reef structures in the first place.
It started prior to placing the reef objects in the water. Forterra Pipe and Precast provided eleven concrete riser structures (big swim-through tubes) to be placed on the ocean floor. In addition, Gate Precast provided a custom-made reef memorial to identify the John C. Leone Reef to visiting scuba divers. We had twelve total artificial reef structures to place in the ocean and used an interactive mapping program to select ocean GPS coordinate locations to target. The USCG sector Jacksonville transported the reef modules to the target location offshore northeast Florida and placed them in the ocean at the target location. Their vessel, the Maria Bray, is equipped with advanced positioning capabilities and was able to deploy the structures precisely at the target ocean drop location.
Several weeks after the reef structures were deployed, we loaded a boat with dive gear and underwater camera equipment and headed out to the same coordinates the USCG used to deploy the structures. We threw a dive marker jug over when we reached the GPS coordinate location and divers descended expecting to find the newly placed reef structures. At first, we found other existing artificial reef structures but not the newly placed modules. We could not see far at all because the water as murky. Divers then tied a dive real off to the marker line and navigated, using a compass, the direction the items were likely to be. After only swimming a few yards the new reef structures were located.
Our dive investigation determined the reef placement was very accurate. We anticipate while diving when the visibility conditions are ideal, that all the structures will be easy to locate because they are close together.
We look forward to diving these new artificial reef structures as they continue to evolve. A big thanks to all who was involved with this project.
#scubadiving #underwater #explore

[@knoptop]

cool!

[@UWPICVID]

The water sure was.!!! Thanks and Happy Holidays