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Lofthus

The Lofthus, or Cashmere as she was originally known, isn’t your typical Keys wreck, and that’s precisely why we love her. This isn't a deep dive. Instead, it’s a beautiful scattering of history in the sand near Boynton Beach. She went down in 1898, a grand iron-hulled barque built in Sunderland, and while the structure itself is now heavily broken up, the sense of age is palpable. We’re talking about massive iron plates and ribs, some still standing proud like ancient sentinels, others splayed out, creating mini-canyons for fish to dart through. You’ll find Atlantic sharpnose sharks cruising the periphery and yellow stingrays half-buried in the sand, their eyes barely peeking out. Look closely at the metal itself. Little nut semeles and miraculous pedipes cling to the rust-coloured iron, and we often spot puffcheek blennies bobbing in tiny crevices. The ambient light here, filtering through the relatively shallow water, gives everything a warm, slightly melancholic glow. It’s a dive for those who appreciate history and the slow reclamation by the ocean, rather than vertical walls of intact steel. We’d suggest going on a calm day; visibility can shift, but when it's good, the detail is fantastic.