Monthly Archives: July 2012

Gator Bowl Press Box Reef Investigation

Back in the early 80's press boxes from Jacksonville's old Gator Bowl were transported offshore and deployed in 80 feet of water. Thiswa an intential project in order tocreate marine habitat. The press boxes were ideal reef material having been constructed of heavy steal. Since then the location has become a popular fishing and scuba diving location off the coast of Jacksonville Florida. It is curretnly referred to as Press Box Reef.
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Plane Crash Investigation; Two Offshore Downed Aircraft

TISIRI has encountered two separate unexplained plane crash sites offshore St. Augustine Florida recently. We conducted a preliminary investigation of both wreckage locations this past week and collected the imagery below. The first group of pictures and video is from a crash that included two Lycoming piston engines. The later group of pictures contains aircraft components that we have not been able to identify yet. Please review the pictures and let us know if you can provide any further insight in the comments section at the bottom of this page.
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First Coast News Plane Discovery Story

7-24-12Jessica Clark of Jacksonvilles' First Coast News interviews TISIRI's Joe Kistel regarding the recent aircraft wreckage discovery. Read More

Strange New Sea Bass Behavior

While investigating a plane wreck site this past weekend TISIRI's Joe Kistel made a strange observation. He noticed what looked like a partially buried black sea bass that was lying on its side. Kistel assumed this was a dead sea bass that had become buried by scavengers but notice the eye exposed was following his (Kistel's) every move. Kistel then thought perhaps the fish was ill as there have been reports of sickly grouper sightings lately and continued on with wreck investigation efforts after taking a few photos. Several minutes later he encountered another buried the same way in sand and captured a few more photos.
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A Visit To St. Augustine's Moody Concrete Reef

TISIRI divers visited the reef to capture imagery for Reefs Revealed efforts and observe the current condition of the reef. Several fish species were observed as can been scene in the photos above. The concrete structures appeared completely encrusted with reef growth consisting of algae, sponge and soft coral. The overall health of the reef appeared to be great but TISIRI divers did also observe an abundance of Lionfish.
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Exploring Capo Reef Offshore St. Augustine

Lying in a depth of 100 feet, roughly 25 miles East of the coast of St. Augustine's, lies a concrete structure artificial reef known as Capo Reef. TISIRI divers recently visited the reef to observe the current condition and collect imagery for Reefs Revealed. The reef appeared to be thriving with a great diversity and quantity of marine life. See pictures of the reef and some of its inhabitants below...
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Divers Discover Plane Wreck Offshore St Augustine

While offshore St. Augustine collecting reef site imagery for Reefs Revealed mapping efforts, TISIRI divers decided to investigate a random area of sea floor that appeared to be holding fish (according to the depth finder display). When divers hit the sea floor they were welcomed by sand and a school of bait fish but no structure. TISIRI investigators decided to swim an expanding circular pattern and when doing so a weed like structure was encountered. This "weed" turned out to be a piece of stainless steal and not far from it an aircraft engine block shown below was discovered.
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Lee County Two Barges Reef Investigation

Shortly after the explosive sinking of the USS Mohawk TISIRI divers investigated an artificial reef a few miles south of the Mohawk's resting location. The reef site is composed of two large metal barges, one of which is upside down and propped up at a 45 degree angle. The upside down barge is actually resting on concrete pieces and this is the explanation for the angled orientation. The angled barge creates a relief of nearly 20 feet off the sea floor and make for unique reef structure. The concrete under the barge creates many voids where fish and animals can take refuge while the largely still intact barge has become surface area for a great diversity of encrusting growth. See Pictures captured at Lee County's two barge reef site below..
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USS Mohawk Sinking News Segment

First Coast News interviews TISIRI's Joe Kistel in regards to the recent USS Mohawk artifiical reef deployment offshore Lee County Florida. Kistel describes the explosive ship sinking event and the significance of such a project in the county in which it resides. He also mentions TISIRI has a 200 foot vessel project in the works for northeast Florida. See the news clip below.
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