The beam is 72.5 feet and she has eight decks.  Now resting in about 150 feet of water, she makes an excellent choice for you next Key West diving vacation.  There are access openings cut into the sides of the ship, and all doors and hatches have been removed. In fact, there are lots of access openings:

Second deck – 46 access openings
• Upper deck – 50 access openings
• Superstructure deck 34 access openings
• Between bulk heads interior 60-80 access openings

Access openings are 79 inches in diamter.  In addition, all vertical passageways have been cleared of covers, which helped the sinking of the Vandenberg, but also contributes to safety for advanced divers who penetrate the wreck.

A Conch Republic Flag was raised on the Vandenberg once the ship was sunk, and within a few days giant barracuda were already lurking all around the ship.  Most Key West dive companies run trips out to the Vandenberg.  The dive can be combined with a stop at either Nine Foot Stake or
Joe’s Tug.

Photos by Mike Mccallister

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Scuba diving in the Florida Keys brings all kinds of wonders and excitement, like shipwrecks, the coral reef, caves, and endless varieties of tropical fish. The Keys are one of the top diving destinations in the world, and no wonder: the year-round sunny warm weather, the 200 miles of coral reef, the clear water, especially in Key Largo, and all the dive companies ready to take you out to see the Silent World. Hundreds and hundreds of divers from all over the world visit the Florida Keys every year, just for scuba diving alone. From one-day resort courses to advanced dive trips to the deeper wrecks, the Florida Keys has it all for your diving vacation.

In the Florida Keys you’ll also find ever-present signs of conservation and preservation of the precious coral reef. There are numerous Marine Parks which seek to protect the reef and also to allow divers to enjoy it at the same time. With the increase in tourism and diving in the past fifty years, marine parks have become an essential part of life in the Keys. Long gone are the days when people used dynamite to blow up parts of the reef to gather pieces of coral to sell to tourists! Now it’s forbidden to take any coral, there are limits on fishing, and there are no-take zones called Sanctuary Preservation Areas (SPAs) up and down the Florida Keys.

John Pennekamp was a leader in the 1950 coral reef conservation movement, and it’s through his efforts that the first marine park was created. John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park is one of the top visited dive centers in the Florida Keys today.

Learn about the other marine parks by clicking below. They range from Key Largo out to the Dry Tortugas, so no matter where you go in the Florida Keys, there’s one to visit.

Marquis de Cadierata, who might be famous for having commanded a fleet of ships in the 1600s that included the Atocha, gave his name to the Marquesas Keys. Several wrecks occurred at that time, in the 1620s, under his command. Mel Fisher discovered the Atocha in 1985 with much fanfare and many many years of searching.

The Marquesas are a circle of mangrove islands set in shallow water flats that are great for fishing. They are located 25 miles west of Key West and accessible through the ocean side or through the Lakes Passage, a more protected route through shallow water in between mangrove keys. They are not on the reef line, but six miles north of the reef. Divers are mostly interested in diving the Marquesas Reef line, which has nice structure and marine life but strong currents. This is considered an intermediate dive.

Cottrell Key is also on the Gulf of Mexico side, and on the way to Alexandar’s Wreck. It’s a popular spot for snorkeling catamarans on windy days, since it’s on the Gulf side and pretty shallow. It’s protected by mangrove islands and grassy flats on one side. There are visible and easy to find remains of a wreck here, and it’s one of the few wrecks that snorkelers can enjoy from the surface.

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Alexander’s Wreck is really the USS Amesbury, a steel-hull vessel sunk in 25 feet of water. The top of the wreck sticks out of the surface and the deepest part is in 40 feet of water. She broke in half shortly after runnign aground here while being towed out to deeper waters to become an artificial reef. Alexander is the name of the salvager who was towing the wreck.

Alexander’s Wreck lies in two pieces 150 feet apart. The site is home to Goliath Grouper, and many other kinds of marine life. It’s locate five miles west of Key West on the Gulf side. Originally a 300-foot destroyer, Alexander’s Wreck is now a great snorkeling and scuba diving spot.

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Western Dry Rocks is a wonderful area for novice divers. It’s not within a Sanctuary Preservation Area (SPA), however, and there are often charter fishing boats trolling over the area in the afternoon. There are nice rock alleys with soft corals all over them, which are fun to swim through.

Western Dry rocks is shallow, and therefore more of a snorkeling spot but depths get to almost 35 feet so scuba divers occasionally frequent this site. There are friendly resident barracuda- very large ones, but don’t be afraid. Also frequently seen here are huge Eagle Rays, who swim through the rock alleys and startle divers quite often!

Ten Fathom Bar is a wall dive from 25 to 130 feet, and considered an intermediate dive. Located half a mile south of Sand Key, the Ten Fathom Bar is home to many species who find refuge in the crevices of the ledge and dropoff. Often called just “the bar”, the Ten Fathom Bar stretches for for miles, parallel to the main reef line.

It’s sandy with rocks, leading up to the ledge, and there are usually lots of Yellowtail Snapper in the area. There’s often a pretty strong current, since it’s outside the main reef area. No mooring buoys here.

Sand Key is probably the most popular snorekling spot in Key West. The major snorkeling companies take their guests here almost daily. And for good reason: it’s shallow, the water is clear because of the shallowness, and it’s a short six miles from Key West. The diversity of coral and other marine life is spectactular, and 24 mooring balls make it easy to tie up and jump in. Actually, anchoring is not even allowed at Sand Key.

On the ocean side, Sand Key drops off and there’s a good 75 foot dive for intermediate divers. The area is a Sanctuary Preservation Area (SPA), so it’s protectd and marked by yellow balls. The ocean side has nice ledges for divers.

Sand Key’s tower is 110 foot tall and the island itself is made of crushed shells and is white sand. Bring your camera, since it’s very picturesque.

Stargazer is not really a dive site: it’s a piece of art placed under water. The metal structure wasn’t designed for maximum coral accumulation, although the table top -like flat pieces are covered and there is a resident Goliath Grouper. Stargazer is placed on a desert of white sand between Sand Key and Rock Key, shorewards a bit.

Stargazer is the creation of artist Ann Lorraine Labriola and it’s a puzzle. The cool thing about Stargazer is the Jewfish (Goliath Grouper) that lives there. You can try and get close, but he’ll swim from table to table to avoid you. Stargazer is interesting but nothing compared to dives on the reef or other dives that feature natural marine formations.

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Located one mile east of the Sand Key lighthouse on the reef in Key West, Rock Key is a Sanctuary Preservation Area (SPA) marked by mooring balls. It’s very shallow, and you can see the waves crashing over the rocks here. On windy days, snorkeling tours will often take their guests to Rock Key because of its sheltered nature.

There are some deep (20 foot) crevices at Rock Key, although the water is only 15 to 35 feet deep at this dive. There are wrecks here but hardly anything is left of them. There are mooring balls here for easy diving.