Clearwater Reef

Sixty-some years ago, someone dropped the first load of concrete into the Gulf of Mexico a few miles off Clearwater and started something that is still alive — quite literally — today. Clearwater Reef was created in the early 1960s and holds the distinction of being the oldest Pinellas County artificial reef. Most divers chasing novelty overlook it entirely. That's their mistake.

Extensive artificial reef building programs began in the Tampa Bay area as far back as the sixties, aimed at improving the marine environment, coral growth, and fish life. Clearwater Reef was right at the front of that wave. The reef covers an area of roughly 0.61 by 0.55 miles and consists of concrete poles, culverts, boxes, pyramids, rubble, sinkers, and fiberglass boat molds placed down between 1974 and 1999 — layers of material added over decades on top of that original 1960s foundation. Anchoring the middle of the reef is a submerged barge that has become the structural heart of the site, giving fish and invertebrates a high-profile structure to colonize. Approximately two weeks after material is placed on the ocean floor, barnacles and algae form on the reef; soon, sea urchins and small fish come to feed; and within six to nine months, the reef begins to support coral growth. Clearwater Reef has had decades of that process running, which shows.

The well-established reef supports a variety of marine life including amberjack, grouper, snapper, and grunt. Spiny lobster, angelfish, curious triggerfish, huge nudibranchs, starfish, hogfish, flounder, and the occasional shark are also spotted in the Clearwater area. Water depths sit in the 28-foot range, with a maximum relief of about 8 feet off the bottom — so the concrete structures rise up meaningfully and give you something to swim around and through, not just over. The barge in the center draws the bigger fish. If you hover above it and wait, the amberjack tend to find you first.