Wreck diving is recreational diving where the wreckage of ships, aircraft and other artificial structures are explored. Although most wreck dive sites are at shipwrecks, there is an increasing trend to scuttle retired ships to create artificial reef sites. Diving to crashed aircraft can also be considered wreck diving. The recreation of wreck diving makes no distinction as to how the vessel ended up on the bottom.
HMAS Swan, named for the Swan River, was a River-class destroyer escort of the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Constructed in Melbourne following the loss of HMAS Voyager, Swan entered service in 1970.
An artificial reef is a human-created underwater structure, typically built to promote marine life in areas with a generally featureless bottom, to control erosion, block ship passage, block the use of trawling nets, or improve surfing.
Stoney Cove is a large flooded quarry which is a popular inland scuba diving site, located between Stoney Stanton and Sapcote in Leicestershire, England.
Wreck Alley also known as "Sunken Harbor" is an area a few miles off the coast of Mission Beach, San Diego, California with several ships intentionally sunk as artificial reefs and as Scuba diving attractions for wreck divers.
Sinking ships for wreck diving sites is the practice of scuttling old ships to produce artificial reefs suitable for wreck diving, to benefit from commercial revenues from recreational diving of the shipwreck, or to produce a diver training site.
Glen Strathallan was a British ship originally built as a trawler, but then converted into a private yacht, which also served in the Royal Navy in World War II. She was finally scuttled in 1970 at Plymouth Sound, England as a diver training site.
MV Rozi was a tugboat, built in Bristol in 1958. She was originally called Rossmore, and was later renamed Rossgarth. She was sold to Tug Malta in 1981 as the Rozi and operated in the Grand Harbour. After being decommissioned, she was scuttled off Ċirkewwa as an artificial reef. It is now one of the most popular dive sites in Malta.
Boltenhagen (GS09) was a Kondor I-class minesweeper built in East Germany. After the Volksmarine was disbanded just before the reunification of Germany, she was sold to Malta in 1997 and renamed P29 and was used as a patrol boat. After being decommissioned, she was scuttled as a dive site in 2007 off Ċirkewwa.
Um El Faroud was a 5,390 DWT Libyan-owned single screw motor tanker. Following a gas explosion during maintenance work in 1995, she was scuttled off the coast of Malta as an artificial reef and diving attraction.
The Gibraltar Artificial Reef, or simply the Gibraltar Reef, is the ongoing artificial reef project for the Mediterranean waters surrounding the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The initiative was started in 1973 by Dr. Eric Shaw of the Helping Hand Trust.
Shark River Reef is an artificial reef located in the Atlantic Ocean, 15.6 miles southeast of Manasquan Inlet, off of the coast of Ocean County, New Jersey. The site contains almost 4 million cubic yards of dredge rock material. Although 96% of the total reef material is rock, the site also contains numerous subway cars.
Pasewalk (GS05) was a Kondor I-class minesweeper built in East Germany. After the Volksmarine was disbanded just before the reunification of Germany, she was sold to Malta in 1992 and renamed P31 and was used as a patrol boat. After being decommissioned, she was scuttled as a dive site in 2009 off Comino.
MV Logna was built as general cargo ship in Bergens Mekaniske Verksted, Shipyard, Norway in 1958. She transported cargo between Norway and Spain until 1969, when she was acquired by the Bahama Cement Company. In 1970, she was converted to a bulk cement carrier and she was renamed MV Island Cement. She was used to ship bulk cement between Freeport, Bahamas, Fort Pierce, Port Canaveral, and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and to Eleuthera and New Providence in the Bahamas. In 1980, the Company conducted an underwater survey and determined that it was not economical to perform required repairs. Instead, the ship was decommissioned and the company planned to sell her for scrap.
No 5 dumb hopper barge, since being scuttled known as the No. 5 Barge, Zanoni Barge and Ardrossan Barge, was a hopper barge which was built in 1911 at Balmain in New South Wales by Poole & Steel for the then Marine Board of South Australia, an agency of the Government of South Australia. She was part of a fleet of vessels used to dredge the shipping approaches to Port Adelaide and other ports in South Australia. Her specific role was to hold spoil from the dredging process and convey it under tow to a dumping site. In 1978, she became redundant after the purchase of two self-propelled barges.
Carthaginian II was a steel-hulled sailing boat, which served as a symbol of the whaling industry in the harbor of the former whaling town Lāhainā on the Hawaiian island of Maui. Built in 1920 and brought to Maui in 1973, it served as a whaling museum until 2005, and after being sunk to create an artificial reef, now serves as a diving destination.
Zanoni was a ship built in Liverpool, England in 1865 by W. H. Potter & Co as a 338-ton composite barque. It was owned by Thomas Royden & Sons who intended to use it for the East India trade.
The following index is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Wikipedia's articles on recreational dive sites. The level of coverage may vary:
Recreational dive sites are specific places that recreational scuba divers go to enjoy the underwater environment or for training purposes. They include technical diving sites beyond the range generally accepted for recreational diving. In this context all diving done for recreational purposes is included. Professional diving tends to be done where the job is, and with the exception of diver training and leading groups of recreational divers, does not generally occur at specific sites chosen for their easy access, pleasant conditions or interesting features.
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