Make Like Cousteau: 10 Amazing Man-Made Reefs To Dive
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So, you’ve dived the Great Barrier Reef, and ticked many other natural ocean reefs off your underwater bucket list? The deep-sea exploration needn’t end there. Simply head for these man-made reefs submerged in unusual spots all over the world, and discover how nature takes over the most diverse structures. [Photo: MUSA]
Make Like Cousteau: 10 Amazing Man-Made Reefs To Dive.
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There’s some debate surrounding the ecological benefits of artificial reefs. They attract algae, coral and fish, quickly becoming thriving ecosystems, but this may not equate to an overall improvement in marine populations. Even as research continues, the appeal of artificial reefs to divers is undisputed. The easiest, most popular and well-known method of creating a tourist attraction in the shape of a man-made diving reef is to sink a decommissioned ship – or, in the case of Wreck Alley, a whole fleet of ships. The popular dive site near San Diego is made up of six intentionally sunk vessels, plus a decommissioned bridge and a Naval Ocean Systems Centre research tower that sank (unintentionally) in a storm.
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Make Like Cousteau: 10 Amazing Man-Made Reefs To Dive.
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Sinking decommissioned oil platforms under a Rigs-to-Reefs programme is similarly contested. Several countries, including the USA and Malaysia, have seen hundreds of oil production platforms turned into popular dive sites, while others ban the practice citing environmental concerns. As marine life already populates the underwater portion of the active rigs, it’s often merely a matter of cleaning the platforms up, shutting down the flow of oil and submerging the surface section. Politics aside, the vertiginous structures left behind when the drilling stops are imposing – and the thriving reefs that grow on them well worth exploring.
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Make Like Cousteau: 10 Amazing Man-Made Reefs To Dive.
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The Seaventures Dive Rig in Malaysia has taken the idea of an oil platform-turned-dive-site to its logical conclusion by hosting divers in a hotel housed on a former oil rig. The structure served as accommodation for oil workers on various drill sites before being towed to its current location. Despite its close proximity to several world-class dive sites, for many visitors the main appeal lies in the “house reef” directly below this unique accommodation.
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Make Like Cousteau: 10 Amazing Man-Made Reefs To Dive.
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A somewhat unlikely diving destination, with some decidedly unusual underwater structures to explore, lies off the coast of New Jersey. Numerous artificial reef sites in close proximity to the coast feature decommissioned ships and barges, but also army tanks and New York subway cars! They were placed there to provide a habitat for fish and add points of interest to the otherwise relatively featureless seabed in this part of the North Atlantic. We like to imagine city dwellers diving down to explore the subway cars in a distorted underwater re-enactment of their urban commute.
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Make Like Cousteau: 10 Amazing Man-Made Reefs To Dive.
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Popular Thai diving destination Koh Tao recently added a cultural highlight to its underwater attractions: The Ocean Utopia Project consists of sculptures designed to add interest and, more importantly, a new habitat to a section of Tao Tong Bay heavily affected by coral bleaching. The late Valérie Goutard (who went by the name Val) completed the art installation before her untimely death in 2016. Today, the Bangkok-based French artist’s ashes lie scattered amongst her sculptures, where divers from all over the world flock to explore the thriving new marine life.
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Make Like Cousteau: 10 Amazing Man-Made Reefs To Dive.
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The Neptune Memorial Reef is also a final resting place, but for way more than just one person. Originally known as Atlantis Reef, it was once designed to be the largest artificial reef in the world. It already is the largest underwater memorial site, designed with a graveyard-like layout. The site, located just a few miles off the coast of Florida, was designed as a work of art, a diving destination and an alternative to the scattering of ashes for those who wish to be buried at sea. Here, the ashes are incorporated into the clay used to form the sculptures that populate the reef, and each memorial is marked with a plaque.
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Make Like Cousteau: 10 Amazing Man-Made Reefs To Dive.
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The world’s currently largest submerged work of art can be found off the coast of Mexico. The Underwater Museum of Art consists of over 500 sculptures by six artists, installed over an area of over 420 square metres near Yucatán resort town Cancun. Work began in 2009 and continues to this day, with figures made from a clay designed to encourage coral growth. Divers can discover eerie scenes ranging from humans going about mundane everyday life – like office workers, playing children and a man watching TV – to larger objects such as houses and cars, all covered in a slowly growing layer of coral and algae. In addition to helping rebuild coral in an area heavily affected by degradation through hurricanes, the artistic attraction also takes pressure off the heavily frequented dive sites in the region.
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Make Like Cousteau: 10 Amazing Man-Made Reefs To Dive.
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Not all man-made reefs are made with recreational diving in mind. Shipwrecked vessels make for fantastic dive sites and are technically of human making, but the humans involved would presumably – at least more often than not – have preferred them to remain on the water’s surface. Nevertheless, once a shipwreck sinks to the bottom of the ocean, marine life flocks towards it, ultimately followed by humans in search of underwater thrills. One of the most famous diveable shipwrecks in the world is the S.S.Yongala, a passenger ship that sank off the coast of Queensland in 1911 and has become an underwater attraction within the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park.
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Make Like Cousteau: 10 Amazing Man-Made Reefs To Dive.
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Whilst the Yongala – and many other shipwrecks – can only be explored from the outside, others are structurally sound and large enough to allow dive routes through the inside of the ship. The SS President Coolidge, a former luxury liner turned troopship, sank off Vanuatu during WWII. Today, the vessel is one of the largest wreck sites accessible to recreational divers. Guided tours give visitors access to a fascinating time capsule, with the lush and ornate interiors reminiscent of the ship’s original purpose, like the first-class deck complete with grand staircase and tiled swimming pool, as well as the military remnants calling to mind its latter years and ultimate demise.
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Make Like Cousteau: 10 Amazing Man-Made Reefs To Dive.
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Whilst the sinking of WWII British Merchant Navy ship SS Thistlegorm was more spectacular than that of the Coolidge, it also came with a comparatively low cost of life. However, most of the cargo was lost to the deep, to the delight of divers who marvel at its treasures such as WWII-era trains, trucks and motorcycles. Perhaps the Thistlegorm’s greatest claim to fame is her discovery by Jacques Cousteau and the marine adventurer’s exploration of the wreck, as documented in National Geographic Magazine and his book The Living Sea. Following in the slipstream of the scuba diving legend is as simple as taking one of the many daily boat trips from Egyptian resort town Sharm El Sheikh. [Photo: Wikimedia Commons]
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