Explorer Barry Clifford recently found the ruins of Santa Maria, the long lost ship of Christopher Columbus, off the bank of Haiti. Clifford is planning to raise the ruins of Santa Maria so visitors can appreciate them in a historical center on land. What about those of us who need to see these wrecks in their natural surroundings? Where would we be able to go to dive deep within the halls of time preserved in briny water?
Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt - SS Thistlegorm
Built in 1940, the SS Thistlegorm is a 126-meter vendor vessel sunk by German bomber planes during World War II and now situated in the shallows of the Straits of Gubal in the Northern Red Sea and accessible by day trip from Sharm el-Sheik. The wreck was found in the mid-1950s by Jacques Cousteau utilizing stories from the local fishermen. She lies at a depth of 30 meters along a sandy floor with her load of trucks and motorbikes still largely intact. The dive is safe for more experienced divers and contains a huge number of wildlife, in addition to the wreckage.
Bermuda -- L'Herminie
This three-masted, 60-gun wooden battleship was en route to France when she collided with one of the shallow reefs off the Bermuda coast in the mid-19th century. A dive of 35 feet permits you to see her 25 guns littered along the ocean depths.
Palau -- Amatsu Maru
Nicknamed the Black Coral Wreck for the woodlands of dark coral covering its outer side, this oil tanker is the biggest wreck in Micronesia and the deepest Japanese wreck in Palau. It rests upright at 130 feet. This one is for advanced divers just with wreck-dive certifications and the assistance of a dive conductor to explore the somewhat unsafe structure.
Townsville, Australia -- SS Yongala
Found near the Great Barrier Reef, the SS Yongala was a 109-meter extravagance traveler ship felled by a cyclone in 1911. The Yongala Express dive boat can get you all through the wreckage in less than 3 hours.
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