Pinellas County Utilities “South County Reef”
By Jim Cline, Pinellas County Reef Construction Program

The Pinellas County, South Reef site was permitted almost equal distance from John’s Pass and Pass-A-Grille. The reef site was selected to allow boaters at the south end of the county easy access to an artificial reef at the 10 mile, 45 depth range, a very safe and user friendly combination. The reef site is also near an old wreck the “Betty Rose”. The construction of new reef sites near older established sites help to jump- start the new reefs.

The center of the reef a ¼ mile x ¼ mile square area is marked by a yellow special purpose buoy. The reef program has constructed two reef sites on this permit. The first site appropriately named “Site One” is one hundred fifty feet to the west of the yellow center buoy. There is a round white mooring buoy attached to site one. Site one is a reef built with recycled concrete material consisting of concrete culverts, light poles, and bridge piling cut-off. The concrete reef has a base pile 90 feet long, 25 feet wide, 15 to 17 feet high. There are five satellite piles 25 feet south of the mother pile, and five satellite piles 50 feet north of the mother pile. The spacing is designed to allow the fish to run and hide when stressed. The satellite piles are 10 to 12 feet high.

The concrete piles are home to Gag Grouper, Goliath grouper, and Black Seabass, that like to stay near the bottom. The site holds massive schools of bait that attract Kingfish, Spanish Mackerel, Bonita, and jacks to the top of the piles. The reef site location has great current flow, the water quality, and underwater visibility is great for diving even on days I wouldn’t expect it to be. Underwater photography is easy and there are huge Goliath Grouper that will pose for you. Boats started visiting the reef after the first week of construction, and we would commonly watch hookups on two or three boats at the same time. This reef is a hotspot during the Kingfish run.

Last week we witnessed a fisherman catch a five- foot, Blacktip Shark that must have weighed close to one hundred pounds. It was about a 30- minute fight on 18- pound test. He did a great job and released the fish when finished. We have had an inquisitive nurse shark inspect us twice, both times we passed inspection. Impressive looking Barracuda are common on most dives.

The second site on this reef is called the Tug Orange. The Tug Orange is an 80 foot steel-hulled harbor tug. The tug was donated to the Pinellas County Reef Program by Tampa Bay Towing, a Seabulk Marine Co. The tug was built in 1903 and was one hundred years old when sunk in April 2003. The tug was a fine workhorse of her day and performed many duties including pushing barges that carried railroad cars from yard to yard in the New York Harbor area. She was an assist tug pushing ships around Tampa Bay. The tug is located about 200 feet east of the yellow buoy that marks the center of the reef permit. The Tug Orange is oriented with the bow to the south, and on her port side. Pinellas County Utilities Reef Construction Program plans to place a mooring buoy on the Orange to make it easier for boaters to visit.

 

Pinellas South Reef. Coordinates, N 27*43.375 W 082*58.500 (Yellow Center Buoy)

Site One. Coordinates, N 27*43.370 W 082*58.540 (Culvert Piles and Mooring Buoy)

Tug Orange. Coordinates, N 27*43.375 W 082*58.450 (East of Yellow Center Buoy)