What was to be a celebration in early June has now become a question mark: When will the Voici Bernadette be deployed, creating the “People’s Reef”?
“We have the money,” said Jim Oppenborn. “We can’t deploy it.”
Oppenborn, the St. Lucie County coastal resources coordinator, explained that the expiration of a contract with McCulley Marine Services has put on hold the plan to sink the 180-foot freighter.
With any luck, a new contract will be struck quickly and the ship can be pulled out to sea and sunk more than 100 feet deep off the coast of St. Lucie County.
“We’re going to speed this up,” Oppenborn said. The county has advertised the contract and is now going through the process of accepting and evaluating bids.
Oppenborn hopes the Voici Bernadette can be deployed by early August, before the traditionally active part of hurricane season.
Mark Music, of MMPS Environmental, said he was disappointed that the ship wouldn’t be going out to sea as planned, less than a year from when the county took ownership of the vessel from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. MMPS Environmental is a nonprofit that has been instrumental in raising funds needed to strip down the freighter, getting it sea-safe for sinking.
Though the Voici is essentially ready to go, the organization is still raising money to help the county acquire and prepare other vessels for similar projects. “This is not the last ship, I hope,” Music said.
The Voici Bernadette came to St. Lucie County via U.S. Customs after the federal agency seized the freighter. The ship was meant to be a general-purpose freighter but ultimately was used to transport drugs. When it was seized, the ship was holding 800 bricks of cocaine worth an estimated $35 million.
The French-named Voici Bernadette translates to “Here is Bernadette” and stands approximately 100 feet tall at its highest point. Plans call for it being moved 10 ½ miles out, south of the Fort Pierce inlet, and sunk near the Fort Pierce Sportsfishing Club artificial reef, which includes four barges, two tugboats and 50 concrete structures that make up the artificial reef system in the area.
The Coastal Conservation Alliance won the naming rights to the soon-to-be-reef, winning the naming auction with a $30,000 bid.
Individuals and companies have donated funds outright, including Derecktor Yachts and St. Andrews Academy, both of which donated $1,000 each. Others have purchased memorial plaques that will be installed on the ship and visible to those who dive on the reef.
Fundraising events helped remove all remnants of the previous occupants aboard the ship. Some visitors were granted tours of the ship shortly after it was turned over to the county. Bunk rooms still had newspaper cartoons taped to doors. Rusted and banged-up pots and pans lied strewn about the mess. The wheelhouse provided a grand view of what would have been top of the ship.
Oppenborn said the ship will make for great fish habitat and other sea creatures. Along with the freighter, small patch reefs will also be deployed. Patch reefs are essentially piles of concrete and other debris – all marine safe – that form smaller reefs. The small reefs provide safe spaces for juvenile fish who would then grow into adults and begin to populate the larger, Voici reef.
The patch reefs would also provide anglers more opportunity to catch fish as they drift with the current over the Voici. With as deep as the waters are and as swift as the current is, small watercraft would find it near impossible to anchor in place, according to Oppenborn.
Anyone interested in making a donation or learning more about the county’s artificial reef program is encouraged to contact Jim Oppenborn by calling 772-462-1713.
