In 1993, Miami lowered a retired Boeing 727 called Spirit of Miami into the sea; a storm split it apart a year later, and coral, oysters, and fish moved in

Off the coast of Miami, divers regularly visit a retired passenger jet that has spent more than three decades on the ocean floor. The Key Biscayne Artificial Reef Site is one of dozens of intentional wrecks that make up the region’s diving grounds, and on September 8, 1993, a decommissioned Boeing 727, named Spirit of Miami, was sunk in about 82 feet of water, according to DiveSpots. Shipwrecks like this one function much like natural reefs, providing structure and homes for a variety of fish and invertebrate species, the Office of National Marine Sanctuaries explains. What may seem like an unusual way to dispose of an old plane has become a practical method for rebuilding underwater habitat.

How an old plane ends up on the seafloor

Long before it went under, Spirit of Miami had a long life in the sky, serving several airlines since its original delivery in the mid-1960s. Before decommissioning, crews stripped out the fuel lines, wiring, and other materials that could contaminate the water, standard procedure when preparing a boat or aircraft for reefing. The usual method of sinking large vessels is to blow them into position, but instead it was put on a barge, towed a few miles offshore, and lowered gently to the sandy bottom. It remained mostly undisturbed for a time, attracting curious divers who wanted to swim past a full-sized jet on the bottom of the ocean.


When the ocean pushed back

In November 1994, about fourteen months after it had been sunk, Tropical Storm Gordon passed through the Florida Straits with turbulent seas. The force proved powerful enough to break the aircraft in half. The main fuselage and wings were close to their original position, but the tail section was pushed some 150 yards farther out into deeper water. This showed that even a heavy metal structure could not withstand such a storm and that reef building carries a risk of damage.

Life moves in anyway

Both broken segments of the wreck continued serving their purpose as habitats where soft corals and oysters settled down, and different kinds of fish, such as parrotfish and snapper, started making use of the wreck both as a refuge and food source. Such behavior is typical not only for the Spirit of Miami. According to Smithsonian Ocean, many wrecks on the seafloor have become homes for corals, eels, snappers, and sharks, whether they sank there intentionally or not. The advantage of intentionally sunk wrecks is that the whole process can be traced since day one.

Why researchers keep studying these wrecks

A 2024 review titled ‘Shipwreck ecology: Understanding the function and processes from microbes to megafauna’ in BioScience examined how fish and other organisms colonize shipwrecks and noted that colonization patterns can vary by location, with some wrecks attracting bottom-dwelling species first and others attracting open-water species. The same review also says that a shipwreck community may not be the same as a reef community, partly because wrecks are complex, tall structures rather than flat rocks. Scientists are still debating whether these wrecks create new fish populations or simply draw fish from nearby reefs. That question affects how new artificial reefs are designed and monitored.

The bigger picture along the southeastern U.S. coast

The Office of National Marine Sanctuaries has studied this pattern in wreck sites along the southeastern United States, including areas off North Carolina and Florida. Researchers have noted that the combination of natural rocky reefs, sunken vessels, and other human structures in the southeastern U.S. provides homes for tropical, subtropical, and temperate fish. Understanding how those fish use each habitat helps protect the blue economy, the tourism, fishing, and diving industries that depend on healthy reefs. That’s part of the reason why a decades-old, storm-broken jet like Spirit of Miami is tracked today, rather than forgotten.

The takeaway

Scientists are still trying to figure out where these structures work best, how fast they attract fish rather than just yanking them from nearby habitats, and how well they hold up once the next storm hits. But more than three decades after Spirit of Miami was placed into the water, its two broken halves are evidence that even a wrecked plane can become a functioning reef, one barnacle and one school of fish at a time.