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The Noula Express was one of the first vessels that was brought to the ocean floor without heavy explosions.
| Name Dive Site: | Noula Express |
| Depth: | 49-78ft (15-24m) |
| Accessibility: | Boat, Live-aboard |
| Inserted/Added by: | lars, © Author: Lars Hemel |
| Rated: | Rated 5.0, 1 votes |
| Specifications: |   |
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The Noula Express is a 114 foot long Danish vessel located at only a mile south of Boca Raton at the east side of the third outer reef line. Before she was abandoned on the Miami River she was used for cruises through the Caribbean. The joint venture between the counties Broward and Palm Beach resulted in its scuttling in 1988 right onto their county border line so that dive operators from Pompano Beach and Boca Raton north beach could easily reach her. They didn't use heavy explosions for a change but decided to let her sink in a completely controlled way. She was the first artificial reef to be created at this location and in her early years, the late 90s, she was often transformed into a decorated ship, celebrating some kind of event or holiday.
It was hurricane Andrew again who broke the steel hulled freighter in two leaving nothing in its original place and state. Nowadays it is even hard to recognize the ship, but it remains a top dive site in the Lauderdale area. A smaller wreck has been sunk southeast of its wheelhouse after local police found it washed up on Boca Raton north beach. Inspectors thought it was used for smuggling drugs but evidence of that has never been found. Marine life is abundant and the growth of soft and hard corals is steadily increasing.
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