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The Tarpoon Wreck was named after the international well respected owner of dive center Tarpoon Skin Diving Center.
| Name Dive Site: | Tarpoon Wreck or Medor Herode |
| Depth: | 59-72ft (18-22m) |
| Accessibility: | Boat, Live-aboard |
| Inserted/Added by: | lars, © Author: Lars Hemel |
| Rated: | Rated not yet |
| Specifications: |    |
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The Tarpoon Wreck or Medor Herode is about 160 foot long and was used as a steel grain carrier between Haiti and Florida. The wreck was named in memory of Mike Kevorkian who was the well known and respected dive center owner of Tarpoon Skin Diving Center in Hialeah, Florida since 1956. When he tragically died on March 7, 1988 several well known professional divers such as reef program coordinator Ben Mostkoff and Robert Arjove of RJ Diving Ventures spotted the wreck Medor Herode which was just declared unseaworthy by the Coast Guard. They used all their efforts to raise the twenty thousand dollars to purchase, clean, prepare and finally tow the wreck to its final location. She was send down to the bottom with several heavy explosions on a quiet morning on May 10, 1988 just south of Key Biscayne by the Miami Bomb Squad.
Right after its sinking Joyce Mavromatis attached a bronze memorial plague to the front of the pilot house. Unfortunately hurricane Andrew destroyed and scattered the wreck across a large area and the plague has never been recovered. Despite all its twisted pieces this wreckage is still a fascinating dive with ample marine life and beautiful and encrusted coral growth. It is often done as a drift dive seeing parts of the wreck and schooling fish such as yellow tail goatfish, black groupers, Goliath grouper, hogfish and snappers on the way.
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