It’s time for another artificial reef off the coast of Destin-Fort Walton Beach. This time, it will be a burned sailboat.
- The vessel is called the Cordanzo and it, unfortunately, suffered a major fire that resulted in it being condemned. As a result, it was then donated to Okaloosa County to be deployed as an artificial reef.
Up at Morgan Marine in Freeport, FL., work is now being done on the vessel to get all of the charred bits off, along with other materials that could be harmful to the environment before deployment.
“All in all, this is a 65-70ft steel hull sailboat, which will be a great addition to our artificial reef program offshore Destin-Fort Walton Beach,” said Alex Fogg, Coastal Resource Manager.
This isn’t the first sailboat deployed as a reef. Back in the Fall of 2020, the Coastal Resource Team deployed the sailing vessel DYLAN that was donated by U.S. Customs. However, this new sailboat will be a little larger.
“It will take many months to get this thing prepped and ready to go and make sure it’s nice and clean,” added Fogg. “We’ll have to go through some testing to make sure that the paint and the wiring isn’t an issue.”
- Fogg says that once it’s been cleared to be deployed as an artificial reef, the vessel could placed in 100 feet of water, depending on what areas are conducive for this sort of deployment.
“This may be the start of a Boat Yard 2.0, where we’ll be deploying multiple vessels in one location to provide a pretty complex spot for people to dive and fish,” he said. “This fish also like it as a habitat.”
