Florida: Deep Wrecks
Rainbow Reef Dive Center
May 18-19thth, 2024
Captain: Alex Boat: Tropical Legend (Saturday morning)
Captain: Daniel Boat: Tropical Destiny (Night dive and Sunday morning)
This year’s annual (semiannual? Who knows.) trip to Florida involved an even further drive than the rivers and lakes that we were used to. This time? Key Largo for some wreck dives and something different than the regular Florida Adventures. After a short (5ish hour drive) down to Key Largo we checked into the hotel, shoveled some food into our faces and then went to bed for the early morning dives the next morning.
Spiegel Grove
Conditions on the Spiegel Grove are usually rough with strong currents and deeper waters resulting in a much more advanced dive than other sites in the area. This weekend was very much not the case. With flat calm conditions on Saturday (with only minimal waves on Sunday) and practically no currents on the wreck itself it was decided that we would double dip on the wreck for both morning dives. Tying off to mooring ball #6 on Saturday and ball #5 on Sunday, (after ball #7 was ripped off and collected as a nice souvenir.), allowed nice descents mid-ship near the towers and allowed for easy exploration of both the bow and stern on the dives. Plus gave us something slightly shallower to look at before ascending when we moored on the towers.
The Spiegel Grove is a Thomaston-class dock landing ship for the US Navy named after the home and estate of former 19th President Rutherford B Hayes. She was launched on November 10th, 1955 and was finally decommissioned on October 2, 1989. She is 510 feet long and roughly 80 feet wide and was intentionally sunk in 2002. However, due to errors in the sinking process she ended up resting on her Starboard side where she remained until Hurricane Dennis caused her to roll upright in 2005. This is an advanced wreck with the shallowest part of the wreck in roughly 70’ of water and the bottom hitting 130’ with plenty of opportunities for penetration and swim throughs.
The wreck is now a well established reef and is covered in corals, sponges, algae and a large number of fish and sharks that are commonly seen cruising along. Goliath groupers are occasionally seen on the wreck, and we were lucky enough to find one living its best Rose Titanic life while sitting on the bow of the ship, blending in with the wreck and unbothered by us taking pictures.
Benwood Wreck
The Benwood was built in England in 1910, measuring 360’ by 51’ and was used as a merchant marine freighter. Due to the threats of German U-boats during WWII, it was armed with 12 rifles, a 4-inch gun, 6 depth charges and 36 bombs. During a routine voyage carrying phosphate rock from Tampa, FL to Norfolk, VA on April 9th 1942, the Benwood’s bow collided with the portside of the Tuttle. Both ships were cruising without lights due to threats of U-boats in the area. The Tuttle was able to be fully repaired however after being run aground the Benwood was written off as a total loss. Salvage continued into the 1950s. The wreck was pulled into deeper water and used as aerial target practice by the US Army to help mitigate potential navigational hazards.
The wreck now sits in 25-45’ with the stern being shallowest. The hull is mostly intact with a few sections of collapsed walls and debris off to the sides. The wreck has a large amount of coral and algae growth resulting in a nice man-made reef in shallow waters. We dove on the Benwood wreck for our night dive and were graced by a lot of turtles, that are very used to divers, lobsters and parrot fish getting ready for bed.
