The Kodiak Queen, formerly U.S. Navy barge YO-44, is becoming a new BVI dive site. Sponsoring the endeavor is Project YoKo BVI Art Reef, a collaboration between Sir Richard Branson and other BVI stakeholders. The Kodiak Queen is being sunk off the coast of Virgin Gorda in March. Uniquely, the ship will be wrapped in a giant kraken sculpture, made of rebar and mesh.
The Kodiak Queen launched in 1940 as U.S. Navy fuel barge YO-44, and is one of only five ships that survived the Pearl Harbor attack. As the Kodiak Queen, the ship began a new life as a fishing boat. Historian Mike Cochran found the ship rusting in a Road Town junkyard in 2012. He set up a website in an effort to rescue the ship, and got some famous attention. Owen Buggy, a friend of and photographer for Sir Richard Branson, saw the site and suggested the ship as an artificial reef. The project soon began
The Kodiak Queen will be a platform for coral restoration, featuring coral planting on its art sculptures. There will be a coral garden on deck and an “eDNA” research area to monitor the impact of artificial reefs. Environmental DNA, or eDNA, is an inexpensive and non-invasive way to collect DNA and monitor marine species. Scientists will use the information to monitor the area’s repopulation of large predators, including sharks and the now-rare goliath grouper.
Every Tuesday is Art Tuesday here at Adafruit! Today we celebrate artists and makers from around the world who are designing innovative and creative works using technology, science, electronics and more. You can start your own career as an artist today with Adafruit’s conductive paints, art-related electronics kits, LEDs, wearables, 3D printers and more! Make your most imaginative designs come to life with our helpful tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System. And don’t forget to check in every Art Tuesday for more artistic inspiration here on the Adafruit Blog!
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Every Tuesday is Art Tuesday here at Adafruit! Today we celebrate artists and makers from around the world who are designing innovative and creative works using technology, science, electronics and more. You can start your own career as an artist today with Adafruit’s conductive paints, art-related electronics kits, LEDs, wearables, 3D printers and more! Make your most imaginative designs come to life with our helpful tutorials from the Adafruit Learning System. And don’t forget to check in every Art Tuesday for more artistic inspiration here on the Adafruit Blog!