KEY LARGO, Florida (17 May 2002) -- While Key Largo Chamber of Commerce officials, Monroe County commissioners and local dive operators calculated the take on their new $1,000,000 "wreck", the star attraction suddenly started sinking, turned turtle and the bonanza expected from the world's most expensive wreck diving theme park now appears to be terminally wrecked. Workers, volunteer divers, local government officials and tourism representatives were forced to abandon the controversial and financially troubled Spiegel Grove when it suddenly started sinking at about 9:00am Friday morning. Everyone escaped safely including Monroe County Commissioner Murray Nelson who scrambled for his life into an inflatable operated by the Key Largo Fire Department. By 10:30am, the retired Navy vessel, billed as "the largest ship ever to be intentionally sunk to create an artificial reef", had sunk at an odd angle and turned turtle with its upside down bow sticking out of the water. In order to fulfill the primary objective of sinking the vessel upright, workers had been pumping water into the Spiegel Grove to make it sit lower in the water prior to being scuttled with explosives. According to an unconfirmed report by local hack Kevin ('how do you spell ENVIRONMENT') Wadlow, who has been promoting the dive industry agenda to increase dive tourism profits with ship sinkings in national marine sanctuaries, Mike Hutchings of TowBoat/US-Key Largo said that the crew wanted to lower the ship four or five feet "but it didn't stop there" and the sinking happened "extremely quickly." | | World-class wreck dive or $1,000,000 navigational hazard and environmental disaster? Project officials refused to speculate on how the ship's position and 160-foot maximum depth will effect its intended use as a recreational dive site, but local dive operators said if the ship could not be turned over, or at least turned on its side, the project would be doomed. Dive shop owner Spencer Slate, a strident shark feeding proponent who led the effort to sink the Spiegel Grove in the Florida Keys Marine Sanctuary, said the $1,000,000, eight-year project had gone from "a dream to a nightmare". But Monroe County Marine Resources Director George Garrett said that according to salvage experts, turning the boat over is "doable" (sic). The Spiegel Grove has been lighted and marked as a navigational hazard and a 500-yard patrolled safety zone will remain in place for at least the next few days. Organizers declined to say exactly when the attempt to turn the ship would be made but expect it to happen before Monday. © CDNN - CYBER DIVER NEWS NETWORK |
