Force-E Scuba Centers - Captain Dan Wreck Dive Site - Force-E Scuba Centers

Captain Dan

The Captain Dan

The Captain Dan is a favorite among local wreck penetration divers

Location: Pompano Beach
Depth Range: 78-115'
Skill Level: Advanced
The Captain Dan was originally commissioned "Hollyhock" (WAGL-220) a 175-foot U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender built in March of 1937 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1959, she was moved to Detroit, Michigan, where she was used as an ice breaker in Lake Michigan. She later served in Miami, Florida as a buoy tender and in the Bahamas for refueling seaplanes for the U.S. Air Force.

Wreck Diving in South Florida

The Smoke Stack

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Looking thru the portholes

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Stern of the ship looking North



Current image of the Captain Dan

Current image of the Captain Dan



Map of the Captain Dan

The Captain Dan Wreck Map

In 1982, the Hollyhock was decommissioned by the Coast Guard and was later purchased by a missionary and renamed "The Good News Missionship", where she went from port to port spreading the Gospel. She became stranded in the Miami River, and with the help of the Boating Improvement Program Fund and the Pompano Beach Fishing Rodeo, she was purchased to become an artificial reef.
In February of 1990, the ship was sank and renamed in memory of Captain Dan Garnsey, a well-known Pompano Beach drift fishing boat owner. Today, the ship lies upright in 110 feet with her bow pointing south. The wheelhouse is 70 feet below the surface and her deck is at 90 feet below the surface. The ship is intact and has been prepared with large access holes providing certified wreck divers easy opportunity for penetration. The current can get quite strong on this wreck so we recommend you have an Advanced Certification and a signaling device in case you get swept off this wreck.

 

To dive this site, contact Force-E Pompano Beach or Force-E Boca Raton for boat schedules.

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