Reef SFC - Landing Craft Scalper

Landing Craft Scalper at Reef SFC occupies its permanent berth on Georgia's Atlantic seafloor with the solid permanence of a vessel built to work hard and endure rough conditions. The name Scalper carries connotations of aggressive efficiency—perhaps reflecting the vessel's purpose in its working life, where landing craft were deployed precisely where conditions were most demanding, running into surf-churned beaches with no protection for the cargo or crew. Now cleaned and prepared as an artificial reef structure, the Scalper has redirected whatever gritty energy its name implied toward the quieter but equally consequential work of supporting marine biodiversity in Georgia's offshore waters. Landing craft present a diving profile unlike any other vessel type in the artificial reef catalog. Their extreme width-to-length ratio, bow ramp design, and open deck layout create a reef structure that functions as an elevated platform in the sandy bottom rather than a vertical obstacle like a ship. Divers approaching the Scalper from above see a broad, flat silhouette surrounded by a corona of fish life, the hull edges marking a clear boundary between the reef's influence zone and the surrounding open sand. The transition from featureless bottom to reef-associated marine life happens over just a few meters, a dramatic contrast that illustrates how powerfully physical structure shapes oceanic biology. At intermediate level, the Scalper rewards divers who explore systematically rather than rushing to cover ground. The bow ramp end deserves extended attention—the hinged plate creates shadow and shelter that concentrates fish, and the interior of the hull just beyond the ramp often holds the largest grouper on the site. These fish have established long-term residency in the landing craft's interior, exploiting the combination of protection from larger predators and the steady supply of prey that the reef's invertebrate community provides. Among the most enjoyable features of diving landing craft is the ability to enter and exit the hull from multiple directions, following fish through the open structure with a freedom that enclosed ship interiors cannot offer. The Scalper's open deck allows divers to maintain visual orientation throughout interior exploration, making it an excellent site for divers gaining confidence with wreck penetration before advancing to more complex, enclosed ships. The naturally low-light interior of the hull, lit from both ends, creates a photogenic dimness that makes for compelling underwater photography. The surrounding sand at Reef SFC shows the enrichment effects of the artificial reef structures nearby. Sand tiger sharks, though not permanent residents, are occasional visitors that cruise between the reef sites at Reef SFC, occasionally drifting directly over or through the Scalper's open hull. Their slow, deliberate swimming style and their apparent indifference to diver presence make these encounters thrilling without being alarming. Southern stingrays are more reliably present, moving across the sandy margins of the reef in search of buried invertebrates. Fish life at the Scalper reflects the typical productive community of Georgia's intermediate-depth offshore reefs: sheepshead working the hull surfaces, red snapper in hovering schools above the structure, triggerfish asserting dominance over choice feeding territories, and amberjack making periodic circuits of the entire reef complex. In late spring and summer, schools of Atlantic spadefish sometimes gather in numbers that rival anything else visible at the site, their disc-shaped bodies creating a living curtain when they school in earnest. Diving the Landing Craft Scalper in combination with the neighboring Optimist and M-60 tanks at Reef SFC creates a satisfying offshore outing that showcases the variety and ecological productivity of Georgia's deliberately diverse reef program. The landing craft sites complement the tanks and larger ship wrecks with a structural character uniquely their own.