Under the waters off Palm Beach, history is coming alive. Sunken between depths of 70 and 85 feet off Singer Island, lie the remains of the Flagler Bridge. This bridge was once the connection between Palm Beach Island and downtown West Palm Beach. Now, it will lie in the depths as an artificial reef, bridging the gap between previously sunken artificial reefs to one another.
But why? Why take old bridge rubble and sink it offshore? To start, the town of Palm Beach didn’t just get rid of the Flagler Bridge access to and from Palm Beach Island. They are replacing the bridge, and construction is slated to be complete by the end of June 2017.
Second, Florida has one of the most active artificial reef programs in the nation. Creating artificial reefs facilitates new scuba diving destinations and improves fishing opportunities.
Palm Beach County’s Environmental Resource Management had 40 to 50 loaded barges of rubble available from the previous Flagler Bridge. They contacted Pura Vida Divers, a member of the Palm Beach County Dive Association, asking for recommendations as to where to place most of the bridge rubble. Pura Vida’s suggestion was to fill in the gap between a few of the area’s most popular artificial reefs, the Mizpah Corridor (a series of four artificial reef shipwrecks offshore Singer Island) and the recently placed Danny McCauley Memorial Reef and Mermaid Statue (another artificial reef shipwreck offshore Singer Island north of the Mizpah Corridor).
This was the ideal location because placing the bridge rubble between these two wreck sites would create an approximately 1-mile-long dive site, with multiple routes for divers to enjoy and a series of new habitats for our marine life to congregate.
Now, with the rubble in place, we were ready to explore this exciting new dive. Upon hearing the captain’s famous words that signal the start of every underwater adventure, “Dive! Dive! Dive!,” divers descend down upon the massive remnants of the Flagler Bridge. Following the current, they will come across concrete lateral bracing, fenders and bearings that give off an eerie type of feeling 80 feet below the surface.
As time progresses and nutrients flow, the bridge rubble will provide refuge to colorful marine life influencing and seducing reef fish and larger pelagic fish to come rest and feed among the others. Come dive into this new artificial reef of Palm Beach County with Pura Vida Divers!
Pura Vida Divers runs daily SCUBA charters, and divers are welcome to request their favorite sites, including this fantastic new series of artificial reefs. For more information about diving this location or to schedule a charter, call Pura Vida Divers at 561-840-8750 or email info.pvd@puravidadivers.com.