I headed out to dive the Sea Emperor on the new 42 ft. boat just placed into operation by
Parrot Island Scuba.
Dropping on the Sea Emperor aka the Aqua Zoo. They used to feed sharks and grouper on this wreck and I imagine had a good turnout at times.
The Sea Emperor is a 171 ft. by 45 ft. hopper dredge formerly operated by Great Lakes Dredge & Dock and was conveyed for use as an artificial reef as a part of a fine for reef damage during a dredging project. It was sunk in 1991 with about 1,600 tons of culverts on the deck. Unfortunately, the vessel turned turtle one last time on the way to the bottom. As a result, the barge is bottom up and all the culverts are piled along the east side of the wreck. The bottom is about 72 ft. with the top of the wreck approaching 50 ft..
Around the bow of the barge. I took a pair of Hero 3 cameras setup with Polar Pro Plastic Red filters secured on a Quikpod Monopod for perspective.
VIDEO
I just noticed clear passage through the baffled borrow compartments in the barge. You can run much of the length of the vessel below decks with light from the slots in the hull to guide you by.
Todd Essick came on the dive. He is well known worldwide for his unique underwater nude studies. You can see some of his imagery at
http://www.essickphoto.com/
I ran across this turtle three times on the wreck.
The wreck is close to the United Caribbean, another nice wreck in fairly shallow water.
Back onboard
Heading back in past the Hillsboro Lighthouse.
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