FlIrishman
Guest
Dive Trip Report: Urca de Lima
Summary: on 12-Aug-2007 a group of a dozen divers searched the seas for the Urca de Lima off of Ft Pierce. We found it, and obtained several GPS readings for parts found. Some members obtained a marker buoys from the State of Florida and re-placed it on the Monument.
Details: The Urca de Lima sunk in 1715 just north of Pepper Park in Ft Pierce, Florida. The State had marked its location with buoys, which have disappeared several times and were replaced. The hurricanes of 2005 also removed the buoys. I've made a few attempts to re-find the wreck, but had been unsuccessful. In 2006, an explorer scout group that's into diving [ the Melbourne Venture Crew ] joined in on the search [ while lobster hunting ]. The GPS co-ordinates I had from previous years did not yield the wreck. One diver spotted the anchor briefly, but did not get a good location mark on it.
So, after contacting the State of Florida [ who also did not know where the wreck was ], I organized a "Search For The Urca Group" for 2007. This included members of my Beach Dive Group and the Venture Crew. The first two attempts were canceled due to bad weather [ you need flat seas and west winds for good beach dive visibility ]. The third attempt gave us Good Weather.
For many years, Bauman Apartments just north of Pepper Park has let us use their empty lot on the ocean to access the Urca. It's a short 1500 ft swim from the end of the lot path to the Urca. From Pepper Park, it's much longer. Their info is:
Bauman Apartments
3707 N Highway A1A
Fort Pierce, FL 34949
(772) 461-8189
and I recommend staying there if your interested in an inexpensive weekend of diving. It's an older and small complex, but it's also 1500 ft from a 300 year old wreck!
We had a kayaker mark the previous bad GPS Urca locations and put out four buoys in a box south of this location to help with the search. The scout group was to perform a sweeping line search. Myself and several other divers were going to search around the marker area. We had searched that area last year and did not find anything.
It wasn't long into the search that we found the anchor, a cement moring block, and 4 cannon. We marked each and had the kayaker take GPS readings. From these, I've generated an up-to-date satellite picture map of the site. We sent the readings into the State of Florida for them to update their records. The State in turn, send a new mouring buoy to the scout group and they put it on the cement monument which the found on their next trip out.
My web pad on the Urca is at:
http://www.irishmansoftware.com/urca.htm
and it contains most of our previous dives and pictures of the various items found. Maps and photos from the 12-Aug dive are at:
http://www.irishmansoftware.com/urca_12-Aug-07.htm
The Irishman
Summary: on 12-Aug-2007 a group of a dozen divers searched the seas for the Urca de Lima off of Ft Pierce. We found it, and obtained several GPS readings for parts found. Some members obtained a marker buoys from the State of Florida and re-placed it on the Monument.
Details: The Urca de Lima sunk in 1715 just north of Pepper Park in Ft Pierce, Florida. The State had marked its location with buoys, which have disappeared several times and were replaced. The hurricanes of 2005 also removed the buoys. I've made a few attempts to re-find the wreck, but had been unsuccessful. In 2006, an explorer scout group that's into diving [ the Melbourne Venture Crew ] joined in on the search [ while lobster hunting ]. The GPS co-ordinates I had from previous years did not yield the wreck. One diver spotted the anchor briefly, but did not get a good location mark on it.
So, after contacting the State of Florida [ who also did not know where the wreck was ], I organized a "Search For The Urca Group" for 2007. This included members of my Beach Dive Group and the Venture Crew. The first two attempts were canceled due to bad weather [ you need flat seas and west winds for good beach dive visibility ]. The third attempt gave us Good Weather.
For many years, Bauman Apartments just north of Pepper Park has let us use their empty lot on the ocean to access the Urca. It's a short 1500 ft swim from the end of the lot path to the Urca. From Pepper Park, it's much longer. Their info is:
Bauman Apartments
3707 N Highway A1A
Fort Pierce, FL 34949
(772) 461-8189
and I recommend staying there if your interested in an inexpensive weekend of diving. It's an older and small complex, but it's also 1500 ft from a 300 year old wreck!
We had a kayaker mark the previous bad GPS Urca locations and put out four buoys in a box south of this location to help with the search. The scout group was to perform a sweeping line search. Myself and several other divers were going to search around the marker area. We had searched that area last year and did not find anything.
It wasn't long into the search that we found the anchor, a cement moring block, and 4 cannon. We marked each and had the kayaker take GPS readings. From these, I've generated an up-to-date satellite picture map of the site. We sent the readings into the State of Florida for them to update their records. The State in turn, send a new mouring buoy to the scout group and they put it on the cement monument which the found on their next trip out.
My web pad on the Urca is at:
http://www.irishmansoftware.com/urca.htm
and it contains most of our previous dives and pictures of the various items found. Maps and photos from the 12-Aug dive are at:
http://www.irishmansoftware.com/urca_12-Aug-07.htm
The Irishman
