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Diving at dive site Bibb which is a United States Coast Guard cutter located on its starboard side.
| Name Dive Site: | Bibb |
| Depth: | 88-137ft (27-42m) |
| Visibility: | 39-118ft (12-36m) |
| Accessibility: | Boat, Live-aboard |
| Inserted/Added by: | lars, © Author: Lars Hemel |
| Rated: | Rated 4.0, 1 votes |
| Specifications: |        |
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Diving the shipwreck the Secretary Class USCG (United States Coast Guard) cutter Bibb is an amazing experience at only six miles off Key Largo. It is a dive site located in between two of Key Largo's best known sites such as its sister ship the Duane and Molasses Reef. The Bibb was 327 foot long with a beam of 41 feet, built in South Carolina in 1936. As with the Duane she was used in many famous historic events:
- She protected and assisted threatened merchant ships in the North Atlantic when Europe had problems maintaining peace with the upcoming war.
- During World War II she was manned with guns and served as a patrolling and convoy escort boat. Spending much of its time in Iceland she rescued there many passengers from the S.S. Penmar and Henry S. Mallory often assisted by cutter Ingham.
- As with her sister ship she was involved in the Vietnam War.
When the navy donated it to Florida to create a marine sanctuary of it many dive shops were interested in helping preparing it. They stripped, cleaned, opened and sealed of dangerous area's before she was scuttled together with the Duane in 1987 at only a mile apart.
Depending on the direction of the current you will start at one of two buoys, one is connected to the stern of the ship and one at its bow. The ships state is perfect and its outline is similar to the Duane, only then on its starboard side. It is not recommended to penetrate the wreck as there are many loose wires and it is easy to get disorientated. Always use the anchor lines to go up which makes it easier to do safety stops and will prevent the high currents from sweeping you away from the wreck.
Marine live is vivid around the wreck with several types of sharks, jewfish, cobia, groupers and barracuda cruising by. Strong currents create high visibilities, nutrition waters which attracts many larger pelagic fish. Among advanced wreck divers this is a dive not to be missed, but local dive shops often skip it as it is too deep and difficult for novice divers. Its pristine conditions, drift diving possibilities and remoteness are some of the reasons you should go here.
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