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Tuff-E-Nuff
It is Sunday September 5, 2010 and we’re off to St. Mary’s Georgia to a Marina that has a 19th century tug sitting on a sandbar at the edge of the river. It is around 11:30am when we arrive at St. Mary’s Boat Service where the tug is located. Today we took the opportunity to document the vessel and our ideas on getting her prepared for her new home, hopefully somewhere off the coast of Florida. Here is a small video of that day. [xr_video id=”362c223e9d3c48838dc0755bacbe8278″ size=”sm”] … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Events, Reefs, Reference, Report, Trip Report, Wrecks
Lionfish Facts
Pterois volitans Pterois miles The genus name, Pterois, pronounced (tare-oh-eese) is defined as “lionfish.” The word Pterois comes from the Greek word “pteroeis” meaning “feathered” or “winged” The species name, volitans, pronounced (vole-ee-tahnz), is Latin for “flying” or “hovering,” the complement of the Latin word “volitō,” which means “to fly” or “to hover.” The species name, miles, pronounced (mee-layz), is Latin for “soldiering,” the complement of the Latin word “mīlitō,” which means “to soldier.” They are so beautiful. I want … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Conservation, Diver, Divetalking, Earth, Education, extinction, Featured, Fish, Lionfish, ocean, Preservation, Recognition, Reefs, Report, Training
Safe Harbor Maritime Academy for Boys need your assistance
Safe Harbor Maritime Academy for Boys, formerly Safe Harbor Boys Home, who are they? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJBoEz3e6BI Help enable Safe Harbor to accept more boys into the program. You can be a part of helping children and families through Safe Harbor Boys Home. In addition to sending Safe Harbor a check in the mail, here are just some other ways you can give: Make an Online Gift – Safe Harbor Boys Home relies upon the generosity of individuals to help make this non-profit ministry possible. Direct gifts can be made to the ministry in general or designated for specific programs. Gifts can also be made in memory or in honor of loved ones (click here). Find Out If Your Company Has A Matching Gifts Program – Please let us know if your company has a matching gift program. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Boats, Candidate, Divetalking, Donation, Education, Featured, Promotions, Recognition, Reference
Win an Authentic WWII Vintage Bronze Port Hole?
An authentic brass porthole from the Tuff-E-Nuff formerly known as Cunningham is being auctioned off. All proceeds go to fund an offshore expedition, search and recovery. To read more and enter, visit the TISIRI website. … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Auction, Boats, Conservation, Diver, Divetalking, Donation, Events, Featured, ocean
Artificial reef being built in Riviera Beach a real treasure for divers
By Hana Engroff Palm Beach Post Staff Writer RIVIERA BEACH — Divers and snorkelers will soon have another sanctuary where they can spot South Florida sea creatures – an artificial reef stretched across 2 acres near Phil Foster Park in Riviera Beach. The reef, mostly made of limestone boulders, will be in 6 to 12 feet of water in the no-boat area just south of the park’s beach under the Blue Heron Bridge. Sandwiched between the beach’s swimming and boating areas, it will provide a refuge not only for divers and snorkelers but also for marine life, Palm Beach County project coordinator Harvey Rudolph said. Seahorses, octopuses, manatees, turtles, a variety of fish and other sea critters have been spotted in the Lake Worth Lagoon water. “You can see stuff here that you normally can’t see … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Diver, Divetalking, Donation, Earth, Education, Events, ocean, Open Water, Preservation, Promotions, Recognition, Reefs, Reference, Volunteer
Baby Red Crabs Invade Cayman Islands
Baby red crabs have infested the Cayman Islands by the hundreds of thousands, in an unusually heavy migration season that has caused havoc. It is likely that the recent “supermoon” and low tides have made it easier for the baby crabs, which are smaller than a thumbnail, to reach land, which could help explain the increase this year. Hundreds of thousands of red baby crabs are invading the Cayman Islands in a seasonal migration that residents say is unusually heavy this year. The crabs are blanketing roads, scurrying across yards and scratching their way up homes and buildings in a process that scientists say will last about a month.“People living in the coast will have them everywhere,” said Tim Austin, deputy director of the Cayman Islands’ Environment Department, on Wednesday. “They get … Read entire article »
Filed under: Alert, Conservation, ocean, Open Water, Reefs, Reference, Report
10 new artificial reefs coming to Panama City Beach, Fla.
FELICIA KITZMILLER / News Herald Writer PANAMA CITY BEACH — Bay County has committed to build at least 10 new artificial reefs by the end of the summer and more are in the works. At their last meeting, county commissioners voted to accept a $60,000 grant from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to construct 10 new artificial reefs in an area approved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers about 10 nautical miles from the entrance to St. Andrew Bay at a depth of about 88 feet, according to a board memo. The reefs will augment an existing reef formed when the remnants of the old DuPont Bridge were sunk in that area. Each reef will be composed of four premanufactured concrete and steel pods arranged in grid pattern about 600 feet … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Events, Reefs, Reference, Report
Making it count – November 2011
Making It Count – November 2011 GIVE THANKS TO OUR OCEANS BY DONATING TO REEF By Paul Humann, REEF Co-Founder I am excited to announce the launch of our Winter Fundraising Campaign. During this holiday season, please consider a contribution to protect and conserve our marine ecosystems. Donate today using our secure online form, call REEF HQ at 305-852-0030, or mail in your donation to REEF, PO Box 246, Key Largo, FL 33037. Members who donate $250 or more will receive a limited, signed, and numbered print of a beautiful Peppermint Basslet. This year, we give thanks to all our supporters and donors who have made REEF’s programs in 2011 successful. Your donation supports a database of over 154,000 fish and invertebrate surveys, marine conservation research, Nassau Grouper and Goliath Grouper protections, lionfish invasion … Read entire article »
Sunken treasure: Croce & crew uncover Drake shipwrecks missing for 400-plus years
BY WILLIAM BENDER Philadelphia Daily News benderw@phillynews.com 215-854-5255 IF JIMMY HOFFA were a pirate, Pat Croce would have found his body by now. What you might not know about Croce, the hard-charging former 76ers president, physical therapist, TV commentator, motivational speaker, writer and entrepreneur, is that he’s also a hard-core “pirate aficionado.” And he just discovered Sir Francis Drake’s burnt shipwrecks off the coast of Panama – a monumental breakthrough in underwater archaeology that solves a 400-year-old mystery. “Explorers have been trying to do this stuff forever, and here I am, a homeboy from Philadelphia in the Caribbean and we score!” Croce told the Daily News last night. “It’s pretty wild.” Leave it to a Philly guy to channel Vince Fumo’s WGSD attitude (remember the “We get s— done” shirts the senator’s aides used to wear?) and … Read entire article »
Tugboat to be used as Kyle Conrad Reef en route to Treasure Coast
MARTIN COUNTY — A steel tugboat built over a century ago and originally powered by a steam engine soon will begin a new chapter in its history of service. The tugboat Tuff-E-Nuff has begun its 200-plus-mile tow from just north of Jacksonville to where it will eventually find its final resting place, on the sea floor about 10 miles northeast of St. Lucie Inlet. John Burke, founder of the MCAC Reef Fund, said if all goes as planned, the unique vessel will be sunk next week and take on its new name, the Kyle Conrad Memorial Artificial Reef. More than 100 friends and family of Kyle Conrad, the 21-year-old former soccer star from Jensen Beach High School and Lynn University, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Boats, Events, Photography, Promotions, Reefs, Report, Wrecks
ScubaExtremes Monthly Team Meeting
This coming Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2010 will be ScubaExtremes last team meeting for 2010. The meeting starts at 6pm. Stop by the shop,get you last minute goodies, stocking stuffers, some cookies and be involved with what we’re gonna do in 2011. We’ll discuss events from the past month as well as places and things we would like to do in the coming year. ScubaExtreme may be found by clicking here. I will be there for this event and I hope to see you there as well. Larry … Read entire article »
USS DEYO DD 989
[nggallery id=22]I was going through some boxes of old stuff and came across a ballcap I purchased while serving aboard the USS Deyo DD989 back in 1983 just after her return from the Persian Gulf. I was almost flown out to the ship but was delayed until her return back to Charleston South Carolina, where I met up with her for my new assignment right out of boot camp. That got me searching the web for USS Deyo and found this article. http://www.navysite.de/dd/dd989.htm In the article, it reads: ” DEYO has been an active player in numerous JCS special operations in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific, where she received a second Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation.” I remember those trips. Twice we were on these special ops. wow, what an adventure. I remember days and … Read entire article »
Filed under: Report
Thomas Cunningham Sr.
Neafie & Levy Ship & Engine Building Company was one of the earliest iron shipbuilders and the chief rival to William Cramp in 19th-century Philadelphia. Started in 1844 by Thomas Reaney, Jacob Neafie and William Smith. William Smith died in 1845 and John Levy took his place and Thomas Reaney left in 1859 to start his own shipyard in Chester. From then on it was Neafie & Levy, until it closed in 1907. The shipyard was located in the Kensington section of Philadelphia on land now occupied by a Philadelphia Electric power plant. I am looking for any photos, models, anything on the 19th century tug, Thomas Cunningham Sr. known today as TUFF-E-NUFF. I am particulary interested in any pictures of … Read entire article »
Filed under: Uncategorized
Fractured – Update
I was thinking that it has been awhile since I posted any update on the condition of my fractured vertebrae. To update you, back at the end of August, 2010 I was heading off shore with some fellow adventurers, Joe Kistel and Ed Kalakauskis, along with our captain Steve Shaw to film the state of Spike, a vessel we placed a year earlier. On the way out, we hit a pot-hole, for lack of a better picture and fell in and against this hole. Twice I was bounced from my seat and within seconds I was on all fours in agony and nauseous. Upon arrival at the ER and a CAT, it was found I fractured my T12 vertebrae and have a number of discs popped out of alignment. August 26, … Read entire article »
Filed under: Artificial Reefs, Boats, Emergency/FirstAid, Report