Spiegel Grove

A Key Largo fishing and diving wreck extraordinaire

The Spiegel Grove was sunk offshore of Key Largo in the Florida Keys in May of 2002. At that time it was the largest ship ever purposely scuttled to form an artificial reef.

This wreck is massive, at 510 feet in overall length and carrying a broad 84-foot beam parts of the ships’ structure reaches to within about 50 feet of the surface.

Here is the 510-foot Spiegel Grove being towed into position for anchoring prior to being sunk offshore of Key Largo in the Florida Keys

Things didn’t go exactly as planned during the sinking.

As the huge Florida Keys wreck was being slowly flooded for an orderly sinking the following day in-rushing seawater got out of control and the ship had to be quickly abandoned of all personnel.

In only a matter of minutes, luckily after the last man was safely off, the giant ship sunk, turned turtle, and came to rest with her stern on the bottom and her bow high above the water’s surface.

This set in motion a plan to set the ship upright before the Coast Guard removed it as a hazard to navigation.

A towing company was hired to turn the hulking ship on her keel. After a month of trying and only managing to turn the Spiegel Grove onto her starboard side efforts to right her were abandoned.

Almost immediately corals began to grow on the steel and tons of baitfish made a home here. This started the chain of life from prey to predator.

Righted by Storm

Mother Nature took charge of the situation in July of 2005 when Hurricane Dennis righted the Spiegel. She now rests upright on her keel just as things were originally planned.

The wreck sits offshore of Dixie Shoal at 2504.000 and 8018.650 in about 130 feet of water. The steel structure provides about 70 feet of relief.

A number of floating balls are attached to the wreck structure and are provided for boats to tie up for diving and snorkeling.

Fishermen can use the anchors balls too, but are better off anchoring off the wreck, up current, and bringing the fish in close to the boat with a chum slick.