Delaware Bay Reefs

Delaware Artificial Reefs

Delaware has a string of artificial reef sites in the Delaware bay, but they are of little interest to divers. Most of the sites are quite shallow and perilously close to the shipping lanes, several of them were actually reduced for this reason. The conditions in the bay are hardly good for diving. The reefs consist mostly of concrete rubble from construction in Philadelphia and other cities on the river. Also shown is New Jersey's sole artificial reef in the bay.

There are however, 5 small vessels sunk in the bay, so in the name of completeness, here they are:

  • Golden Eagle - a 70' tugboat sunk August 1996, minimum depth 21', on reef site #8
  • A 40' steel pilot boat - sunk June 2006, depth 30', on reef site #1
  • P3 and Dolphin - 35’ and 42’ steel vessels, sunk April 19, 1999, depth 42', on reef site #7
  • Buchannon - a 120' x 40' steel barge sunk March 18, 2004 on reef site #6

Reef site #8 was shrunk by half and Golden Eagle is no longer actually inside the reef.

I cannot find any other documentation on these vessels, if anyone has anything, please send it in.

Delaware has eight permitted reefs in the Delaware Bay


pelican

These are birds that are occasional to regular visitors to our region but do not live here year-round. Pelicans are summer visitors, Gannets are winter visitors. Others may appear any time, usually after being blown inshore by a storm. Because they can be carried thousands of miles off-course in storms, many other types of sea birds, from Europe, Africa, South America, the Arctic, and even Asia may make guest appearances as well.

Brown Pelicans Pelecanus occidentalis are southern birds that are occasionally found as far north as Cape May, rarely up to Nova Scotia. However, with the warmer temperatures of late, they seem to be expanding their normal range northward.