It's Official! The Spiegel Grove, the world's largest artificial reef, is open for diving! It's taken eight years, with more obstacles and money spent than anyone could imagine, but finally a retired 510-foot Navy ship intentionally sunk as an artificial reef, opened to sport divers Monday off the Florida Keys. Keys National Marine Sanctuary officials installed mooring buoys Monday morning on the wreck after the Coast Guard discontinued a safety zone that had kept boaters and divers 500 yards away from the Spiegel Grove since its arrival off Key Largo May 14. The Spiegel Grove gained international notoriety after it sank upside-down hours ahead of schedule May 17, sending 40 workers onboard scrambling for safety. It left the ship's bow sticking up out of the water for three weeks before a Resolve Marine Group salvage crew rolled it onto its side and finished sinking it June 10. Several days later a pesky oil dribble was noticed in the form of a sheen slick above the Spiegel Grove. Analysis by Louisiana State University showed that it presented no significant threat to divers or the environment. Still the presence of a petroleum product floating above the Spiegel has delayed the opening until the source was located and cleaned. On Sunday, divers unraveled the oil mystery. They used petroleum absorbent fabrics to sop up small engine lubricating oil in two different compartments of the ship, one level below the main deck. The fluid had been a component of supplies and machinery transferred aboard the ship several days before the scuttling. The above report is taken from the Spiegel Grove Update page of Captain Slate's Atlantis Dive Center website. For additional information and color photos, click on: http://www.spiegelgrove.info/.
