Alabama Celebrates Sinking of the LuLu off coast of Orange Beach

It turned into a party. Surrounded by nearly 200 boats and the Wet Willie Band playing, Alabama’s first whole-ship diving reef, the 271-foot retired coastal freighter LuLu, was sunk early Sunday afternoon (May 26, 2013).

Less than a year after it formed to support reef development off the state's coastline, Alabama Gulf Coast Reef & Restoration Foundation successfully deployed the LuLu (originally_ _christened _Yokamu) _17 nautical miles south of Perdido Pass off the coast of Orange Beach. The reef project is the first of three the foundation hopes to create by 2015 for scuba divers.

The Yokamu has been dubbed the “The LuLu,” after local businesswoman and project supporter Lulu Buffet (yes, Jimmy's sister). Mac McAleer, the ship’s main sponsor who named it, had his son and daughter, Joe and Karen, and Lucy Buffett’s daughter, Mara O’Dwyer, christen the ship while it was docked by splashing it with a new drink at the restaurant, the Scuba Lu, named in honor of the soon-to-be reef. McAleer, a former Krispy Kreme executive who owns Homeport Marina, donated $250,000 toward the project. As the sponsor given naming rights, McAleer said “LuLu" is his ex-wife Lucy Buffett’s nickname and her restaurant’s namesake, but he said the name has a deeper meaning. “I looked up ‘lulu’ in the dictionary and it’s defined as a ‘remarkable person, place or thing,’” he said. “And when I presented the check to the foundation at the chamber meeting that morning (in December), I said that I’ve been fortunate enough to work with and I lived with a LuLu for 10 years, and I brought Lucy up on stage. Then I said together we have built this remarkable place with these remarkable people here, called LuLu’s. And when I saw that big ship tugged under that bridge and barely make it under the top, I wanted to be a part of that.” McAleer was referring The new wreck is the latest artificial reef in an initiative by the Alabama Gulf Coast Reef & Restoration Foundation to encourage dive tourism in the region. The nonprofit formed to assist in artificial reef deployment.

About 7 p.m. on Sunday, the foundation confirmed on its Facebook page that the ship is open for diving: "It's official — the LuLu has been cleared for diving! Safety team reports that she is sitting perfectly upright, visibility was already improving, top starts at 60 feet. And snapper were already hanging out! Pool's open & I suspect there will be a good crowd there in the morning!

The ship is a 271-foot coastal freighter, formerly used to carry cargo for relatively short trips to coastal areas and the Caribbean. The ship was mothballed and sold at auction. The main engines, generators, drive shafts, piping and electrical components were removed to make it eligible for a reef permit.

The Oriskany, the aircraft carrier that was deployed off Pensacola, Florida, was the example followed for the project.

With the addition of this first ship purpose-sunk intact, Coastal Alabama adds to its impressive dive slate, including Liberty ships (Allen Reef, Sparkman Reef and Wallace Reef); bridge rubble sites (Atlantis, Rome, Road Bed, and Pillars and Flats); tug boats and other structures (105 Tug, CSX boxcars, M-60 military tanks, and oil rigs); natural bottom sites (Trysler Grounds); and beach dives (Alabama Point sea wall, Alabama Point jetties and the Whiskey Wreck).