A delivery column on a platform that's routinely cleaned. Photograph by David Doubilet

We've covered a lot of water since our last field dispatch from artificial reefs. We left fisheries biologists using ROVs to estimate fish biomass on artificial reefs off the Pensacola coast and drove west across a still battered Gulf Coast. Hurricane damage was still evident in every direction. We rolled into Lake Charles, Louisiana, late in the evening, bleary-eyed and shaking from an overdose of Starbucks and Redbull. We met our fixers Darrell and Cher Walker (True Blue Watersports), repacked the gear for a few days in the Gulf, and loaded our Sport Fisherman in the dark. Captain Keith Monroe and first mate Eric Larson pulled us off the docks at 2 a.m., and we headed into the Gulf of Mexico. Daybreak gave us a view of a forest of platforms stretching to the horizon–some manned, some not. The water closer to the coast was mud brown, useless for photography, so we pressed deep into the Gulf looking for clear water. 

The currents in Key Largo felt like underwater trade winds that just did not want to quit. The wrecks are deep and need light brought down to them to illuminate large areas on these iron reefs. If I were shooting a very small area I could use dual strobes mounted on the housing but our goal was to create an atmosphere of an underwater studio with generator powered HMI lights on150 foot long cables, a Nuytco prototype submarine LED, handheld HIDs and strobes on photoeyes. 150 pounds of cable and lights were ferried 115 feet down the line to the wreck in a pumping knot and a half current … in the dark.

 David Doubilet and dive guide Colby discuss HMI light cable connection. Photograph by Jen Hayes. (Click image to enlarge.)

I am working on an assignment called Artificial Reefs. These structures occur on the bottom of the sea by design, by accident or sometimes the unfortunate product of war. In many cases artificial reefs provide valuable structure and habitat where there is little to none.

Underwater photographer David Doubilet in his studio, prepping and packing for an assignment

Hi everyone. This is an invite to join me on an assignment that will take our team on an unusual underwater road trip along the continental shelf of the eastern and southern United States. The assignment actually started with a short few days underwater in late May in Florida, but now we kick off the major stretch of work that will find us in southern coastal waters moving around in planes, trains, and automobiles ... and of course dive boats.