During Surface Interval, Scuba News, Surface Interval

They turned hurricane damage into an artificial reef

Listen to this article The British Virgin Islands has developed an innovative way to deal with the debris and belongings damaged by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which wrought severe damage in 2017. The non-profit organisation ‘Beyond The Reef’ has begun transforming the damaged structures into unique and interesting dive sites. Instead of going to landfill,

ByTomasz Andrukajtis

Published: July 22, 2019 - 10:34

Updated: July 22, 2023 - 18:25

They turned hurricane damage into an artificial reef

Listen to this article

The British Virgin Islands has developed an innovative way to deal with the debris and belongings damaged by Hurricanes Irma and Maria, which wrought severe damage in 2017. The non-profit organisation ‘Beyond The Reef’ has begun transforming the damaged structures into unique and interesting dive sites.

Instead of going to landfill, the destroyed property is turned into interesting constructions, such as the “sharkplaneo” – half-plane and half-rekin. A total of three aircraft were turned into interesting constructions and sunk under water. This resulted in the wrecks of a bullshark, a hammerhead shark and a blacktip reef shark.

-- Advertisement --

The new artefacts are not only interesting new dive sites, but also serve as artificial reefs, attracting and stimulating marine life to develop. Stimulating the local reef was one of the key elements of the project.

In the near future “Beyond The Reef” plans to sink the dilapidated vessel “Te Willy T”, which served as a legendary floating bar. The idea is to turn the damaged boat into a diving attraction in a pirate atmosphere.

Source: divenewswire.com

About author

Tomasz Andrukajtis

Editor-in-chief of the DIVERS24 portal and magazine. Responsible for obtaining, translating and developing content. He also supervises all publications. Achived his first diving certification – P1 CMAS, in 2000. Has a degree in journalism and social communication. In the diving industry since 2008.