Duane

The USCGC Duane is one of the great wreck dives of North America — a 327-foot Treasury-class United States Coast Guard cutter that was deliberately sunk in 1987 alongside its sister ship, the Bibb, near Molasses Reef in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. The Duane served for nearly fifty years, participating in World War II convoy escort duty, the Korean War, and Vietnam-era operations before being retired from active service. When it was sunk, it was the largest vessel ever deliberately scuttled as an artificial reef, and it has had nearly four decades to fulfill that mission. The Duane rests upright on its keel at approximately 120 feet, making it more structurally coherent and penetrable than its tilted sister ship, and the upright orientation gives the wreck an imposing, castle-like quality as you descend toward the superstructure. The wheelhouse, engine room, and crew quarters are all intact and accessible to divers with proper training, and the scale of the vessel becomes truly apparent only when you are standing on the deck at 80 feet looking forward along the length of the hull stretching ahead into the blue. The exterior of the Duane is a showcase of encrusting life — massive barrel sponge formations, orange tube sponge clusters, and intricate lace sponge formations cover every horizontal surface. Purple sea fans and wire corals decorate the vertical aspects. Schools of horse-eye jacks in the hundreds circle the superstructure in tight formations, and large barracuda hang motionless in the current. The Duane is celebrated for its goliath grouper encounters: multiple individuals exceeding 300 pounds have made the wreck their home, and meeting these enormous fish face to face in the dim light of the lower decks is an experience rarely equaled in recreational diving. Eagle rays sweep through the deeper sections with effortless elegance. Advanced divers make the pilgrimage to the Duane from across the country, and most agree it fully deserves its legendary status.