Pompano Beach, Florida, United States

Captain Tony's (Tony Salido)

Captain Tony's, also known officially as the Tony Salido, is a 52-metre former oil rig supply vessel built in the 1960s and sunk off Pompano Beach, Florida, on 8 September 1995 as part of the Broward County artificial reef program. She sits upright on a sand bottom at 23 metres with the main deck around 18 metres. The wreck has been heavily encrusted by stony coral, sponges and gorgonians, and openings cut during preparation allow safe penetration for trained wreck divers. Resident species include large goliath grouper during the summer spawning aggregation, schools of horse-eye and bar jacks, blackbar soldierfish in the holds, queen and grey angelfish, and a regular green moray eel under the bow. The ship is part of a cluster of artificial reef wrecks off Pompano Beach that also includes the Lowrance, the Mercedes I and the Sea Emperor; operators run multi-tank trips to combine them. Currents follow the Gulf Stream and visibility is typically 12 to 25 metres.