HERNANDO BEACH, Fla. — Excitement is building as a two-year community project to turn a decommissioned ship into a reef and dive site is about to come to completion.

  • Crews have worked 2 years to prepare "Ghost Ship" to be sunk
  • Decommissioned ship will be sunk in Gulf, become part of reef
  • Volunteers have put in hundreds of hours of work into ship

The ship is being sunk in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday, but community members spent Easter Sunday putting the finishing touches on the so-called "Ghost Ship" before it’s taken to its new home in Gulf waters.

"We recently changed our name to the "Adventure Coast," and we felt like we needed some things to attract people to the Adventure Coast," said Frank Santo, chairman of the Hernando County Port Authority.

The ship has been sitting in Hernando Beach for 14 years.

"It was built in California. It was built in '84 or '86. It plied off the coast of Mexico, South America, the Bahamas, and Florida for years,” Santo said.

"How it got to Hernando Beach, we don’t know," he added. 

Over the past two years, the Port Authority has clean it out, thanks to volunteers who have put in hundreds of hours of work into the project, along with generous donations.

It will be become part of Bendickson Reef, 20 miles off the coast of Hernando Beach.

"This is going to attract more of the same type of fish that go into the main reef, but hopefully in larger schools, and it will also attract different types of fish that don’t go on the more flat-based reefs," Santo said.

"Any other boat might not have worked, but because this boat is made out of ferro cement, that’s the key to this whole thing," he explained.

Crews have even cut some holes in the ship, hoping that turtles will use the space as well.

As the project comes to an end, the people who have been part of it from the beginning are eager to see it put in the Gulf and come to completion.

"It’s going to be thrilling when it goes down. I’ve never sunk a big boat like this. I’ve sunk a few small ones involuntarily, but not a big one like this," said Stephen Barton, vice chairman of the Hernando County Port Authority.

"I’m a diver myself, and I’m really looking forward to swimming in and out of this wreck," Santo added. 

The ship will become the Adventure Coast's first wreck dive site.