Sunken boat to become artificial reef

A loud boom and a billow of gray smoke signaled the sinking of the Uribe 121 off the Baja California coast on Saturday at precisely 12:11 p.m. Within minutes, the decommissioned Mexican navy patrol boat vanished beneath the ocean’s surface, launching a new life as the state’s first artificial reef.

Hundreds celebrated the feat on a warm and cloudless afternoon. This brief moment was eight years in the making — an occasion that is raising hopes for the creation of a diving-oriented tourism sector in the state.

Baja California Gov. Francisco Vega de Lamadrid and Mexican navy Adm. Victor Uribe Arevalo joined dozens of passengers gathered to witness the sinking from the decks of two navy vessels anchored in Puerto Descanso.

On shore, hundreds of onlookers set up chairs by the coastal road, or parked pickups on giant sand dunes, or cheered from hotel pool chaises and restaurant tables overlooking the Pacific Ocean south of downtown Rosarito Beach.

“We never imagined the magnitude of this project,” said Francisco Ussel, a Tijuana restaurateur and scuba diver who has spearheaded the $600,000 effort to sink the Uribe. “All we wanted to do was sink any old ship.”

But the original vision has been vastly expanded. The long-term plan is to create an underwater park in Bahia Descanso, a quiet bay off the community of Puerto Nuevo about 50 miles from San Diego.

The Rosarito Underwater Park eventually would include a ship graveyard featuring the 220-foot-long Uribe and three other vessels in its deepest section. Another section would include pyramids, busts and statues to recreate a pre-Hispanic Atlantis. A third area would pay tribute to the Titanic, while a fourth area — the shallowest — would create an underwater sculpture garden.

“There are many cities with parks in Mexico,” Ussel said. “But with an underwater park, only Rosarito.”

×

The Uribe 121, a 220-foot long former patrol vessel for the Mexican Navy was sunk off the coast of Baja California to create the state’s first artificial reef.

Though initially championed by Ussel and his fellow members of Baja California Divers, the project moved forward with federal, state and municipal support. Members of the San Diego diving community also collaborated on the project, offering guidance on how to go about creating the reef.

“This is a project with great potential — cultural, social, and economic,” said Gov. Vega, speaking during a land ceremony in Puerto Nuevo. The hope is that in its first year, the project will draw close to 40,000 divers, he said.

In Rosarito Beach, the sinking has already started to spawn projects. The Puerto Nuevo Hotel is preparing to cater to scuba divers, with a dive shop and an area where they can clean and dry their equipment. The hotel also is planning a 100-slip marina, where dive boats will be able to ferry divers to and from the Uribe.

The vessel sits about 90 feet under water, in an area of mud and sand. The site was selected following studies by scientists at the Center for Scientific Research and Higher Education in Ensenada who looked at factors that include the currents and waves in the area.

sandra.dibble@sduniontribune.com