Joe’s Tug, despite its name, was a shrimp boat. She is 75 feet long with a steel hull and originally sunk at the Key West pier in 1986. After that initial sinking, the boat was raised, stripped and cleaned to be re-sunk and used as an artificial reef for divers. Legend has it that the night before the vessel was scheduled to be sunk as an artificial reef, a group of locals towed the boat themselves. No one really knows where they were headed with Joe’s Tug because the boat sank en route to wherever the group was headed. It landed in 65 feet of water, where it sits today. Unfortunately, the boat today is no longer intact due to hurricane activity. In 1998, a category 3 hurricane, Hurricane Georges, broke the wreck in half, sending the bow in one direction and the stern in another, 30 feet apart. The wheelhouse has pretty much disappeared over the years, mainly due to the hurricanes. The sea life that lives down in Joe’s Tug includes a friendly moray eel and a variety of fish including the well-known jewfish named Elvis. Joe’s Tug offers some of the best wreck visibility in Key West and because of this is one of the most popular dive trips.