10 Spectacular Artificial Reefs Throughout the Ocean

From a famous statue of Jesus Christ to a Volkswagen Beetle, here are 10 Spectacular Artificial Reefs Throughout The Ocean.

#5 - The Christ of the Abyss
There are a few of the Christ of the Abyss statues in the waters of our world, but this one is the original. The original was placed in the Mediterranean Sea near the spot where people believed Dario Gonzatti, the first Italian to use scuba gear, died back in 1947. The statue depicts Jesus Christ offering his hands in peace. The statue, which was carved by Guido Galletti, was sunk on August 22, 1954, but due to excessive corrosion, it was removed in 2003 to be restored to its former glory. Not even a year later, on July 17, 2004, the statue was returned to its watery home.

#4 - The Ocean Atlas
In 2014, Jason Taylor dropped this 60-ton statue into the waters of the Bahamas, piece by piece. The model he used was a small Bahamian school girl named Camilla, and he designed the piece so that she is supporting the weight of the ocean on her shoulders like Atlas does with the weight of the world. Like all of his creations, Jason made this piece of art to last through lifetimes. He claims that the statue will never disintegrate but rather as time passes, more and more calcium will build up around the outside. He is excited to eventually see the outcome of the pieces he has made and says this about it “I am making these inert objects, but the environment is giving them their souls.” We’ll have to see just how awesome this sculpture becomes once the ocean gives it a soul.

#3 - The Governor's River Walk Reef
Located off the coast of Palm Beach Florida, the Governor’s River Walk Reef is made up of four sunken ships, concrete corridors that connect one ship to the next and an assortment of large limestone blocks. The project started when US Customs gave the four ships to the Palm Beach County’s Artificial Reef Program as part of the Operation River Walk. The program, which was conceived to eliminate drug smuggling up and down the Miami River turned four former drug vessels named the Shasha Boekanier, St. Jacques, Gilbert Sea, and Thozina into an artificial reef. The Shasha Boekanier even has a memorial statue at the northern tip that was placed there by the Delray Beach police and firefighters to honor those lives lost due to drug smugglers. This spectacular sight is now a perfect spot for recreational diving since there is a huge variety of tropical fish as well as turtles and different species of shark.

#2 - The USS Oriskany
The sinking of this giant vessel had to be reviewed and overseen by the Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that all toxic substances on the ship were properly removed and cleaned out before the sinking took place. In 2006, the Essex-class retired aircraft carrier was sunk off the coast of Florida to create an artificial reef. Even though the aircraft carrier had battle stars for services in both the Korean and Vietnam wars, it’s destiny was to become the largest man-made reef in the whole world. Usually, after you sink a vessel intended to become a reef, it takes time for the life around the structure to grow accustomed to it and decide to move in. With the case of the USS Oriskany, the move-ins began occurring right after it was sunk. Local diver Bryan Clark recounts his first dive to the colossal ship just a few days after it sunk. According to Clark, a crab hatch must have happened right before or after the ship was sunk because the wreck was covered by thousands and thousands of tiny baby crabs which, of course, attracted even more fish and wildlife all of which decided to stay.

#1 - The Sunken Volkswagen
This spectacular piece was imagined and created by a man named Jason deCaires Taylor in an effort to save the lobster population in Cancun, Mexico. Taylor had been snorkeling around the bottom of one of his famous sculptures in Cancun when he was delighted to see a gathering of 100 or so lobsters. He went back a week later to be shocked after finding that every single lobster had disappeared. He soon discovered that the reason for the lobsters’ disappearance was due to the local fisherman going out at night and capturing them to eat and sell. In an effort to change the rapid population decrease Jason Taylor set to work creating this hollow replica of a Volkswagen car. Even though it is hollow, the creation weighed nine tons and proved a difficult feat to move it to its final resting place under the water. Even the best intentions and the best-laid plans can go awry, and for the first two years after its placement, Jason was beginning to feel as though he had failed. It took over two years for lobsters to decide that they trusted the VW enough to claim it as their own and move inside. Thankfully, the last time Jason went to check up on his masterpiece, there were over eighty of the clawed creatures inside, living peacefully away from the snatching hands of the local fisherman.