Shipwreck Diving Destin Florida: The Artificial Reefs Changing the Gulf

Wreck diving in Destin, Florida is growing fast, with new artificial reefs, thriving marine life, fisheries research, and the future sinking of the SS United States. In this episode of Pod Diver TV, Joe Cocozza heads to Destin-Fort Walton Beach, Florida, to dive three artificial reef shipwrecks with Alex Fogg and the Destin-Fort Walton Beach Natural Resources team. We dive the Fantasy, Skip and Sue, and Atlantis, three wrecks that demonstrate how quickly artificial reefs can develop into productive marine habitat in the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way, the Natural Resources team is conducting real marine science, including acoustic tagging of cobia and Goliath grouper to learn how fish move between artificial reefs. Alex explains how Destin-Fort Walton Beach uses tourism funding not only to create new scuba diving and wreck diving opportunities, but also to support marine research, fisheries science, artificial reefs and living shoreline projects. We also visit Scubetech in Destin, which supports local diving and provides access to many of the area's wrecks and artificial reefs. And, of course, we ask the question wreck divers have been waiting for: When will the SS United States finally be sunk? Alex gives us an update on the enormous environmental, regulatory and engineering work involved in preparing the historic 1,000-foot ocean liner to become what is planned to be the world's largest artificial reef and an extraordinary new wreck-diving destination off Florida's Gulf Coast. In this episode: Wreck diving in Destin, Florida Cobia acoustic tagging underwater How artificial reefs create marine habitat Living shoreline restoration The latest SS United States artificial reef update If you're into scuba diving, wreck diving, technical diving, Florida diving, artificial reefs, marine conservation or the SS United States project, this is an episode you'll want to watch. Have you dived the wrecks off Destin or Fort Walton Beach? Let us know your favorite Gulf wreck in the comments. And if you want to see us return when the SS United States goes down, subscribe to Pod Diver TV. LINKS Destin-Fort Walton Beach Natural Resources:[INSERT LINK] Pod Diver TV Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?... Pod Diver Radio – Audio Podcast: 00:00 — Intro 02:15 — Alex explains the artificial reef program. 04:20 — Tagging Cobia & Tracking Marine 06:30 — Artificial Reefs, Marine Science & Living Shorelines 11:00 — When Will the SS United States Be Sunk #ScubaDiving #WreckDiving #DestinFlorida #ArtificialReefs #SSUnitedStates #FloridaDiving #Cocozza