After 17 years ashore, M/Y Time returned to the water once again and is now the first superyacht on record to be sunk as an artificial reef. Marine Cleanup Initiative Inc. (MCI), in collaboration with McCulley Marine Services, Inc. and the St. Lucie County Artificial Reef Program, deployed the 38.5-meter yacht on July 15 just after 11 a.m. off Fort Pierce, Florida. Time becomes the A. A. Hendry Artificial Reef in memory of a Florida pioneering family.
MCI acquired Time in August 2022 from a donation from the Martin County Anglers Club of Martin County, and this is their fifth deployment they’ve been involved in with St. Lucie County since 2021.
She underwent meticulous decommissioning to meet Environmental Protection Agency standards, with crews stripping the vessel down for 10 months and removing anything that could be harmful to marine life, local media WPTV reports. Causeway Cove Marina’s stainless steel mobile bar was recommissioned from Time as a tribute to her presence in Fort Pierce.
M/Y Time now rests at 27° 24' 2870"N, 08° 00' 8988"W at a depth of 160 feet, approximately 10 miles off the St. Lucie Inlet. Within an hour of her deployment, fish were already spotted, and tech divers will dive the new artificial reef in the coming weeks and continue to monitor it. The hope is that the yacht will recruit Oculina varicosa spores.
“We are expecting her to be full of white Oculina, so she will actually be considered the first Oculina nursery out of the Oculina Banks,” MCI Director of Operations Christa Stone told WPTV. “The more we are being more proactive and preventative at trying to maintain the sustainability out here, we have a greater chance at a healthier ecosystem.”
For updates on the reef, follow the Facebook page: here.