Aug 27, 2010

Commissioner Carl Blow, of St Augustine Port Waterway & Beach District, escorted TISIRI Divers Joe Kistel and Ed Kalakauskis offshore to perform the first ever dive on the Andy King Reef.

Carl anchored the boat over the North end of the reef site where the larger, full length pilings, were deployed. Kistel and Kalakauskis descended down the anchor line on the first dive with photography and observation goals in mind. Commissioner Blow hit the bull’s-eye with the anchor for we descended in an area that appeared to be in the center of the large piling deployment. Amazingly, even though only a few weeks old, the concrete piling artificial reef was holding a significant amount of fish. Kistel and Kalakauskis were surrounded by Triggerfish the entire dive.

Not long into the dive Kistel witnessed Kalakauskis getting bit by a triggerfish and found it very humorous, until he himself was bit as well. Both divers were bit a handful of times on this dive and the fish were so intent on biting that it made photography efforts difficult. The triggerfish even would bite the camera and the diver’s gear. These fish eat hard shelled critters for a living so you can imagine that their bite packs some punch.

Kistel was able to get a few shots of the reef layout while Kalakauskis noted the sea floor sediment and stability.

The second dive was made in the same location but the focus was to video the area. The divers were a bit nervous after their experiences with the triggerfish during the 1st dive. There apprehension was correct because they were bit several more times by the fish during this dive. Kistel reported bites to the hand, ear, and head while Kalakaukis took most of the hits on his fingers. Regardless of the biting fish objectives were met.

Dive conditions were good with flat calm seas. The visibility at the shallow artificial reef site was 10-15 feet, so picture and video efforts proved difficult.

Divers were impressed with the reef layout and feel the reef will prove to become a biologically productive one. The efforts put forth in this artificial reef project will be well worthwhile as this marine habitat evolves.

Commissioner Blow was very influential in making this reef project a reality. Artificial Reef creation is a very involved task and it takes motivated people like Carl Blow to make them happen. Thanks for your efforts Carl.

St Augustine, Andy King Artificial Reef is a post from: TISIRI

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We are just breaking the ice with this one and should have more information in the weeks to follow.

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Today was the first drop of the bridge pilings reef deployment offshore the coast of St. Augustine Fl.

The day started at 7:30am at the Comanche Cove Marina where we boarded the Sailfish II. The gracious captain and crew of the vessel welcomed TISIRI divers and event participants aboard the spacious bill- fishing vessel. We were off to the future reef site.

At approximately 7 miles east of the St Augustine inlet we approach the reef site area in which the artificial reef material is to be deployed. The perimeter corners of the area had already been marked with buoys prior to our arrival. Everything appeared in place for the deployment; the reef area was clearly marked and support and press vessel were in place. Now we just had to wait for the barge of material to arrive. And wait we did; it turns out that the tug boat (pushing the barge) was having engine problems. It wasn’t until the early afternoon before the tug and barge arrived on site.

To keep busy the captain of the Sailfish II put us over a nearby live bottom area for a comparison dive. We preformed an observation dive and collected video and photo documentation of the area. It was a live bottom site consisting of low relief rock crevices. Visibility was limited to about 15 feet but there was no missing the amount of sea life. The majority of fish life observed was Seabass, Sheephead, Triggerfish, and some grouper. This area makes a good reference location to compare the new reef site to as it evolves. See the attached video and pictures of the dive.

There was also time for a little fishing in which a large cobia was caught and our video captures the excitement of the catch.

The barge finally arrived and started unloading. The process took much longer than anticipated and the Sailfish II had to return to shore prior to the barge being completely unloaded. In fact it wasn’t until 7:30pm before the barge was emptied.

We had time for one more dive where we encountered a curious turtle and a seahorse. See the video.

Stay tuned for a future update regarding the artificial reef deployment. We should be diving the site in the near future.

St Augustine Artificial Reef Deployment is a post from: TISIRI

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The temporary bridge in St Augustine that was used during the repair process of the Bridge of Lions has been dismantled. The piling material will be used as artificial reef material. The video below shows some of the material being placed on a barge in preparation for the artificial reef deployment later this month. Video provided by TISIRI’s Larry Davis.

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Video courtesy of REEF participants.

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