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At the southernmost point of the county, in 105' at the bottom, this site tops out at abut 62' and most of the 'good stuff' goes down to around 90'. Sunk in 1985 by the Tenneco Oil Company, the decommissioned oil platform was hauled from the Gulf of Mexico on a massive barge and deployed it in three sections, each one a little deeper than the other, in a straight east-west line.
Watching the sinking, replete with a small compliment of cranes, tenders and boats from all kinds of imaginable government agency, took too long to hold the attention of cheering crowds, so the Towers went down with little fanfare or ceremony. However, once they were on the bottom, they became on of the best dive sites in the Southeastern United States.
Without hulls, or bulkheads, the skeletal structures rose off the sea floor and provided huge areas of hard substrate for corals to 'grab' onto, yet at the same time allowed the tides and currents to flow through and around every strut and support beam and promoted almost instant growth.
Home to schools of jacks and other good sized fish, they are often visited by pelagic, or open ocean, fish including the giant sunfish and the occasional shark. The structure has been hailed as the best fish attracting device ever deployed in the state.
Hurricane
Andrew was not kind to the Tenneco Towers, it took one of the platform
sections and drug it completely away from the site and if it’s
whereabouts are known, it is not on any commercial chart, nor is it
visited by any divers, the fish have that one all to themselves. The
other two sections were pushed together, almost leaning on each other
and outside of looking disheveled, they continue to do an excellent job
attracting fish and delighting the diver. If you own an underwater
camera, bring it, otherwise you will probably wind up kicking yourself.
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