Veterans Reef

Veterans Reef

Tampa Bay Dive Sites

Veterans reef was the brainchild of Jim Pochurek, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who has over 40 years scuba diving experience and wanted a reef built suitable for fishermen and scuba divers but also a place for families to scatter ashes or have a memorial service.

Tampa Bay – Reef Diving

Veterans reef has a depth of 42 feet and was constructed using three steel hulled barges each over 100 foot long, 300 tons of limestone and fabricated fish-attracting devices (FADS).

The reef is rectangular in shape and is approximately 600 feet north to south and 300 feet east to west.

The reef is already home to various marine life and to provide further habitats and commemorate past veterans a Lockheed Neptune P2V-3 was placed on top of one of the barges in an upright position. Since then the plane has broken up and provides an ideal habitat for the local marine life.

There are plans to add other commemorative structures at this site over time as the site develops and you may spot one of the two commemorative plaques that were placed here in 2001.

The Pinellas County Artificial Reef program has deliberately used different materials and structures at each of the reefs to provide different profiles on these reefs and encourage all forms of marine life to inhabit the various structures.

Tampa Bay Scuba Videos

One of the attractions of Tampa Bay scuba diving is that you will be able to take underwater photographs or underwater videos such as the one below.The Gulf of Mexico waters are warm and clear so you will be able to get some good shots.

This video was taken at Veterans Reef and shows the three barges that were sunk here and gives you an idea of what to expect when scuba diving in Tampa Bay. (Press the button second right on the bottom of the video player to see it in full screen)…

Terence’s Log

When scuba diving any of the reefs around Tampa Bay care has to be taken as these reefs were designed and constructed for scuba diving and for Tampa Bay fishing which is very popular so you will see lots of fishing boats around these dive sites.

This dive site will keep developing as it matures and with the addition of more structures such as tanks which are planned for the future.