ORANGE BEACH — Scuba instructor Lila Harris' first trip to dive the Argosy VI on July 5 was four days after the successful sinking of the 408-foot, three-story ship as an artificial reef 23 nautical miles out into the Gulf.

Harris' second trip was just five weeks after that, on Aug. 11. She thought she knew what to expect. But as she submerged and got closer to what should have been the roof of the vessel, what she saw didn't make sense.

"I was just really confused because I was expecting it to have that white flat top... this is definitely different, and to me it reminded me of a sinkhole," she said. "The top or the roof, whatever you want to call it, had just pulled away from the supporting structures."

Last week, a dive team with the Alabama Department of Conservation Marine Resources Division confirmed that approximately two-thirds of the Argosy's roof has collapsed. The damage was likely caused by the added pressure of up to 15-foot wave activity from Tropical Storm Bertha, according to MRD director Kevin Anson, but he also said degradation like this is inevitable.

"It was not expected that damage would occur this soon," he said, "but we did expect that over time that the vessel would experience that kind of deterioration."

The dive team ensured there was no change to the Argosy's depth, which sits in about 120 feet of water. The top of the vessel must be at least 50 feet below the surface to maintain navigational clearance above.

"There's still some roof there, and it's still about 65-foot depth, the portion of the roof that is still intact," he said. "We have plenty of distance there."

The former Indiana casino riverboat was originally towed to Alabama by Orange Beach developer Larry Wireman, who bought it with plans to transform it into a hotel and restaurant. After several roadblocks derailed those ideas, Wireman made a deal to sell it to the state. As a part of that deal, Wireman was responsible for remediation. He worked with Orange Beach-based Walter Marine to strip the boat of hazardous materials and prepare it to be sunk.

In order to retain the reef's verticality, the state wanted to sink the stern first, having it settle on its keel and keeping it upright. So, Walter Marine, which has built and deployed thousands of artificial reefs, installed plugs throughout the bottom of the vessel that, once manually pulled at the site, allowed controlled flooding. Vents cut throughout the ship let air escape at the right pace, which controlled the speed and angle of the Argosy's descent.

"Sinking vessels in a controlled manner, it takes a lot of engineering behind it," Craig Newton, a biologist with MRD, said the day after the sinking. "The contractors did a great job."

The vessel is still sitting upright and in the same place, according to MRD's Anson.

One of the main goals of the $2.5 million GoMESA-funded project — The Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act distributes money from oil and natural gas leases in the Gulf to five states touching those waters — was to encourage marine life diversity, and Anson said this damage could actually help that process at the top of the reef.

"The roof, as it collapsed, in certain areas it has kind of folded over or fallen down at an angle," he said, "and that actually makes the reef more complex and creates a better habitat for fish rather than just a flat roof."

'IT IS ALWAYS A DIVER'S RISK'

During her Aug. 11 trip, Harris, who was diving with other instructors from along the Gulf Coast as a sort of training for the public diving site, saw an increase in marine life from her first trip five weeks prior.

"I'm looking at the safety [for divers], but I'm looking also at the amazing amount of fish that now had moved in," she said. "From the outside moving in it, and the inside moving out. They're just swirling everywhere. That was really cool because that's a big part of what they prepare these sites for."

The trips Harris makes are largely for recreation and education, but her documentation, along with others, of the Argosy prior to and after Tropical Storm Bertha helped Anson and his team pinpoint when the damage occurred.

"We've also received some additional videos taken by other divers at different times — shortly after deployment and then all the way up to a couple of weeks before we actually dove," he said. "Between those videos, earlier videos, we were able to discern that, again, the damage appeared mostly after the tropical storm."

Even prior to any damage, diving a site like the Argosy takes training. If you have an Advanced Open Water Diver certification, exploring on top of or around a ship of this size is relatively straightforward, but make your way inside and things get dark fast, making it easy to get disoriented. The ship was prepared to be sunk with open navigation for divers in mind, but as the structure inevitably continues to deteriorate, paths could be come altered or blocked, though there didn't seem to be any other current internal damage noted by the MRD dive team. Anson said it's always the diver or the dive company's responsibility to determine what is safe.

"There's no guarantees provided or warranties provided with the wreck from us. It is always a diver's risk, diver beware type situation. They need to make the best judgment as to how safe the vessel is."

Harris, a 27-year veteran with nearly 7,900 dives under her belt, said she never felt unsafe during her most recent trip, but she wouldn't get lulled into a false sense of security when she goes back either.

"I don't think the damage is a hazard at this point," she said. "Will it become a hazard? It will. Anybody that goes inside of a wreck should have a wreck specialty."

According to Anson, there was no set schedule for MRD to monitor the Argosy site before Bertha and that, for now, there will not be one going forward, but he said his team will continue to plan dives following any future storms.