Grounding at Looe Key

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Grounding at Looe Key National Marine Sanctuary


I am headed out to look at the damage this morning.

 

[ygthad]

Don't sound good..

 

[Toolbox-13]

Please keep us posted Capt Jim

 

[jviehe]

Make sure they at least sink the boat where we can dive it.

 

[100days-a-year]

That sux,hope they nail'em.That area has bouys that show where it narrows up.It is shaped like a vase and gets right up to the back of the main reef.If it sank the boat ,there will certainly be serious damage.We watched them patch in sections several years ago from a freighter grounding,the reef heals fast there.

 

[dutchfin]

Definately a shame as this is one of the healthiest reefs in the keys. Hopefully there is only minor damage. (is that possible with reefs? )

 

[_Kurt_]

Is she a blond? The captain, that is.

 

[Scubaroo]

Take the seaplane flight from Key West out to the Dry Tortugas one day - and have a look at the thousands of grounding scores and grooves in patches of reef out there from boats. Some areas are totally trashed - looks like dune buggy tracks on a desert, except it's shallow reef. Some stretch in near straight lines for a hundred yards or more as the boats continued plowing ahead scraping bottom trying to reach deeper water.

 

[archman]

.We watched them patch in sections several years ago from a freighter grounding,the reef heals fast there.

Ah yes, the notorious "Looe Key fart grounding".
That wasn't a freighter, it was an oceanogaphic research ship doing sidescan passes. Ships aren't permitted inshore within the Florida Keys National marine Sanctuary without special permits, as they have a tendency to wreck. Case in point, albeit an odd one.
Someone let a huge fart in the bridge, and everyone ran out, leaving the ship on autopilot. The autopilot runs smack over the forereef so hard, it can't be pulled off till the next day by a tug. By that time all the ship's rocking back and forth wrecked more reef than the initial damage.
The university that owned the ship was so stigmatized that they sold it. I think it was the captain's second or third slip-up... not sure what happened to him. The reef restoration was a multimillion dollar effort, using anchored barges and huge blocks of sculpted concrete.

Smaller boats ground frequently on Looe Key, but many aren't reported if the owner gets his boat off without being noticed. I've seen it a few times myself. There was a cabin cruiser that ran aground at night on the nearby Newfound Harbor reef back in '97 I think... that thing plumb blew up and you can still find traces of hull paint on the coral.

 

[showboat]

would love to view some photos and a dive report capt Jim