She was a grand old dame. Now, after more than a half-century of globetrotting, she’s sitting on the sandy ocean bottom, 150 feet down, about seven miles south of Key West. And she’s still maintaining her unshakably dignified presence. Over a decade of seemingly interminable political wrangling, fundraising, permitting, and environmental compliance — and an ultimate cost approaching $9 million — culminated in a blink, as she slipped gracefully beneath the turquoise surface.
The project was the concept of local Captains Joe Weatherby and Sheri Lohr, both avid scuba divers. On Wednesday morning, a brilliant sun cut through the haze of sugar cane fields being burned off in Cuba as a host of supporters, interested onlookers bobbing about in boats on the periphery of the mandated 1-mile safety zone, and anxious divers were on hand to applaud their persistence. In the end, it took less than two minutes for the retired 523-foot-long U.S. missile tracking ship, Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, to settle into her final resting place.
Commissioned in 1944, she once tracked space launches off Cape Canaveral and monitored Soviet missiles during the Cold War. The final leg of her international travels brought her to Key West, towed here from Norfolk, VA, to be sunk as an artificial reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary – and the southern anchor of the Florida Keys Shipwreck Trail. She scuttled perfectly upright, as engineers intended, but the vessel’s two enormous tracking antenna dishes became dislodged, and anxious divers had to be detained from their explorations until contractors could re-secure them yesterday. The new attraction for sport divers and anglers opened to the public this morning at first light. To learn more, check out www.bigshipwrecks.com – they have a link to some great video footage. And when you come to see her for yourself, plan to stay at The Tropical Inn, right at the midpoint of Duval Street, in the heart of the historic district!
While most of the country has just heralded the “official” arrival of summer with Memorial Day celebrations, we here in the Keys have a special harbinger of the languid months to come.
Now there’s a movement afoot to designate a clothing optional beach in Key West. The Key West Innkeepers Association recently took a poll of its members and found overwhelming support. Such seems to be the prevailing opinion, at least of the tourism-related sector of the community.