Waters are gradually warming up here in South Florida, and the winds are finally calming down. This past Saturday Apr 1, 2017 we went out with Dixie Divers from Pompano to visit the United Caribbean Wreck.
The United Caribbean is a 147-foot cargo ship, which was sunk in August of 2000 as part of Florida’s artificial reef program. The wreck is at a depth of 70 ft, approximately ¾ of a mile off the coast and about a mile south of the Boca Raton inlet. The ship was built in 1969 and was later used to smuggle human cargo and drugs.
It’s hard to imagine when looking at the wreck that as many as 300 people were smuggled in horrid conditions from Kenya in the hold looking for freedom.
The growth on the wreck is impressive, and while visibility was only about 40 ft for our dive, we managed to see some interesting creatures including a GIANT Goliath Grouper, which looked about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. I only wish we could have been close enough to show a person in the frame for comparative purposes.
We also loved this 2-foot Sand Diver who was trying to talk to us.
This was our first time diving Nitrox as newly certified Nitrox divers and we must say that we enjoyed the extra bottom time. A personal best, we were actually the last ones out of the water amongst our group of divers! There were some medium currents as we made our way up the line, but the bottom at the wreck was calm and it was a great site to see. You can easily make it around the wreck two or three times in 30-40 minutes of bottom time at 60-70 ft.
There are a couple of other wrecks in the vicinity for advanced divers that could also be reached on the same dive. Perhaps we will attempt this next time but we enjoyed staying at the United Caribbean and soaking it all in.
As our second dive, we went out to Monkey Reef, which actually proved to be over 70 ft in depth. There was just a gentle current, but enough to give us an easygoing drift dive. We made some new friends with a couple of divers from Argentina who graciously led the group through this reef area.
We saw a loggerhead turtle, a lionfish, a lobster, and squirrelfish at this colorful reef. The water was at 75 degrees, but still comfortable with a 3 mm suit. We can’t wait to get back into our shorties as the water gets into the 80s. A lot more good diving ahead!
Note that we’ve also started capturing some of the local South Florida wrecks and sites on a page to chronicle our own adventures with pictures and videos as well as hopefully provide a guide for South Florida divers, visitors or wannabe divers.
Check out the page on South Florida Dive Sites