9-3-12

St. Augustine's Dorthy Louise Reef, often referred to as the DL barge, is a nearly 200 foot long broken barge resting in 80 feet of water 20 miles east of the St. Augustine inlet. On Labor day TISIRI divers visited the reef to collect imagery for Reefs Revealed. Dive conditions were great with a sea floor visibility of nearly 50 feet but the abundance of schooling fish made it difficult to see at times. See pictures of the reef and marine life below.

The usual suspects were encountered including seabass, soapfish, anglefish, flounder, and tomtates. Two medium sized nurse sharks were found resting under a portion of the barge and there were thousands of schooling fish in the area. In fact, TISIRI diver Ed Kalakauskis said this was the most amount of swiming fish he has ever seen on a single dive. Schooling fish included spadefish, almaco jack, barracuda, bonita, and several variety of bait fish. As the divers ascended they were completely surrounded by all of these schooling fish and reported it was a rather amazing experience.

Click here for GPS coordinates to the Dorthy Louise or DL Barge Reef.