My friend Tommy Smedley is a well known Scuba Instructor, avid diver, and all around good guy from Montgomery, Alabama. It’s rare that you’ll attend a diving event in the Florida Panhandle or Eastern Alabama and not see Tommy. It’s also rare to meet a diver in the area who doesn’t know Tommy or who hasn’t taken a class with him. I’m proud to call Tommy a friend and even more proud to have his contributions on this website. This is his account of the sinking of The Lulu as a Gulf Coast Artificial Reef and Wreck Dive.
-Richard Black
We planned far in advance for the sinking of the Lulu. Memorial Day weekend brings lots of tourists to the coast and we knew hotel rooms would be at a premium. But we made a full weekend, 5K Color Run on Saturday morning, watched the Lulu being towed down the Intercostal on Saturday afternoon, trip out on the Ann-Sea to watch her sink on Sunday, and the highlight – being the first recreational divers on Monday.
Lulu spent Friday moored at Lulu’s Homeport Restaurant and the public paid their respects amidst a day-long party. She was expected to leave for the mouth of Mobile Bay that afternoon. The forecast wasn’t looking for sure and the wind was coming from the Southeast. David Walter knew that if he left Mobile Bay he would be towing into the wind. Plans changed and Lulu went back to Walter Marine for the night. She left at noon Saturday to enter the Gulf at Pensacola Pass. We were there to watch her begin the final journey.
Sunday we left Sportsman Marina about nine, and with the southeast wind spent the 17 mile trip in the trough. The Ann-Sea is a comfortable boat so we lazed in the sun and enjoyed the rocking chair effect, swaying from side to side.
The Captain spotted Lulu on radar long before we could see her. Then gradually she appeared off to port seemingly anxiously following the tug, almost like she was tired and looking forward to her new home. David Walter said that she would arrive on site at noon and the plugs pulled by one. Amazingly he was right on time – not a minute early, not a minute late. We felt it appropriate that Lulu made her final voyage on a trailing sea.
Around 200 boats circled the site. The band, Wet Willy, was on a100 foot barge complete with stage, generators, palm trees, and porta-potty. His music wafted across the waves and the party was on, a celebration of Lulu’s new life. In pure coastal tradition the shrimp boat Kelly Ann pulled the party barge.
There were no explosions, no smoke, and no fanfare as Lulu began to settle stern first. She gradually sank lower and lower until water rushed over her gunnels, and with a blast of air, cheers from hundreds of fans, and horns blowing Lulu became Alabama’s newest dive destination. I don’t remember the song Wet Willy was playing but I want to say it was Spanish Moon.
Local businessmen hope that she will attract divers and fishermen to make a grand impact on their economy. Success of the program has them already looking for additions to their artificial reef system. David Walter, owner of Walter Marine, purchased the ship over a year ago and brought it to his facility. He realized that the Alabama coast has lots of fine dive sites but until the Lulu none were intact shipwrecks. Walter set the price for preparation and sinking at $500,000 with full hopes that local businesses could raise the money. Spearheaded by Chairman Vince Lucido and attorney Chandra Wright the Alabama Gulf Coast Reef and Restoration Foundation became reality and raised more than $650,000 in less than a year. Mac McAleer, owner of Homeport Marina, became the naming sponsor. Naturally the name he picked – The Lulu.
The Lulu began life in 1972 in the Netherlands as the SS Ingeborg. The name that is welded in painted over large letters across the stern is Myrberg. Her registration number is INO 7217054 and for ship watchers the radio call sign was J8A58. Her last registered name was the SS Yokamu before being redubbed Lulu.
Lulu’s final resting place is +290 59’ 50” / -870 33’ 00”. The site is 115 feet to the sand and the top of the wheelhouse is 60 feet. Her cargo deck averages 90 feet. The wreck is 270 feet long and 40 feet wide.
We chose Gary’s Gulf Coast Divers for our trip on Monday. Captain Gary Emerson runs a class act. Aboard the Cat-n-Around we left Sportsman Marina and arrived on the site in about 45 minutes. Less than 24 hours after the sinking we were the first recreational divers to see the grand lady. Visibility on the wreck seemed about 40 feet and there was a mild current from bow to stern. We easily explored both the superstructure and the bow on a single dive.
My sage friend Rick and I have a theory that fish are curious creatures. If you throw any object into the water and come back after about 30 minutes there will be at least a dozen fish staring at it. In less than 24 hours the Lulu had attracted a large number of snapper and at least one blenny already called her home. The artificial reef program is so important in providing marine life a place to attach and grow and flourish. Our sincere thanks go to those members of the Alabama Gulf Coast Reef and Restoration Foundation for their foresight, diligence and hard work to bring us the Lulu. Learn more about them at www.alabamagulfcoastreef.org
The Lulu is 17 miles south of Perdido Pass and easily reachable from Orange Beach or Pensacola. We had a blast watching her sink and being among the first recreational divers. We will go back many times