Panhandling for New Wrecks In the Gulf of Mexico
. By Stephen Weir · From the June 2016 issue of Diver Magazine OceanWind was sunk to create a new dive site for Florida Pan Handle divers. Close too shore and not too deep. Not yet part of the Trail (but could be soon) wreck already a popular dive site . Florida Panhandle divers don’t have to apologize for having a sinking feeling tug, away at their C-cards. Early this year OceanWind, a retired harbour tug was made environmentally safe, hauled out into the Gulf of Mexico and scuttled. Dive shops in Pensacola are already running scuba charters out to the first new artificial reef of 2016 and promise that there are more ships to be sunk this year and beyond! The OceanWind was a floating workhorse. Built in 1952, she worked in the Pensacola Harbour pushing and pulling big ships as they came in and left port. The OceanWind has a massive engine to bully much bigger craft near the docks. She was 30 metres long, 8 metres wide and 12 metres tall.