We finally got our chance to dive the Ancient Mariner wreck off Deerfield Beach. It was the perfect February day with lots of sunshine and flat seas. We love Florida winters, and even the 75-degree seas aren’t so bad with a 3mm suit and a hoodie 🙂
With 30-40 feet visibility and only a small current getting down the mooring line was easy enough. The wreck sits at a depth of 70 feet (to the sand) and is pretty big at 165 feet in length and 25 feet across.
It has a lot of open spaces to explore and those comfortable with penetration have multiple opportunities to enter. With last year’s storms, we were informed that some of the top deck was washed away and is now next to the wreck in pile of metal in the sand.
The hull is full of life and we loved seeing the large clams showing their zebra colored muscles only to snap shut as you approached them. There were schools of reef fish, hogfish and even a courageous lobster hanging out on the wreck. The sunny day and relatively shallow depth gave us a great view of the wreck from all angles.
Some history
The Ancient Mariner was originally a Coast Guard ship named the Nemises and dates back to 1933. It was built to chase rumrunners during the prohibition, but with the prohibition ending in 1933 it was never deployed for that purpose. It later saw action when used as a submarine chaser and rescue vehicle during WW2.
Decommissioned in November 1964, some investors purchased her in 1979 and made her into Fort Lauderdale’s first floating restaurant. The vessel sank dockside in 1981 but was actually brought back to the surface and reopened as a series of restaurants. A tragedy occurred in 1986 when over 100 guests got sick with hepatitis and the restaurant went bankrupt. The South Florida divers club of Hollywood purchased her and she was donated to the Florida Artificial Reef Program and sunk in 1991. Rumor has it that you should still not eat anything off her deck to be on the safe side!
On the reef
Our second dive was at a nearby reef, which was also a great drift dive at about 60 feet. We saw barracuda, lots of angels, grouper, filefish, hogfish, porcupine fish and even a spotted moray.
We’re real happy to have made it to the Ancient Mariner and will definitely welcome a return visit should the opportunity arise.