The best and most exciting dive spots of the island, from Garajau Marine Reserve to the famous Wreck Afonso Cerqueira F488!
Garajau National Park
This is the most exciting diving area of the island, a paradise for our divers and for underwater photography. Within the Garajau Marine Reserve, discover different dive sites boasting walls, vibrant reefs, intricate caves, and a bustling ecosystem teeming with marine life which is definitely abundant. Divers may find here tunas, mackerels, large groupers, stingrays and eagle rays, barracudas, huge rays, jacks, turtles, morays, and many more. The National Park has been the location for the 2022 European Underwater photo competition. The average depth is 20 m.
Our favourite dive sites:
- T-Reef
- Cape Garajau
- Pinaculo
- Baia dos Porcos
- Garajau Drift
- Sardine Plateau
- Arena
- Blue Hole
Location: southern coast of Madeira
F488 Corveta wreck
The Corveta Afonso was sunk on 4 September 2018 south of Cabo Girão, off the coast of the island of Madeira. The ship, which immediately after sinking was declared a
national park, forms an artificial reef that is home to a variety of marine animals.
The wreck is easily accessible by boat. Get in the water from the boat to discover this impressive warship. The Corveta is 85 meters long and is still in excellent condition.
Pronto wreck
“Pronto” is 30.12 meters long, 6 meters wide and 2.5 meters high, was built in 1895 and sunk on April 29, 1929, at 5 pm outside the Ilhéu da Pontinha with a shipment of 200 tons of water. The wreckage lies on a sandy bottom at 30mt depth surrounded by an astonishing amount of marine life. This dive site is a paradise for deep divers and experienced divers.
Bom Rei or Bowbelle Wreck
The Bom Rei wreck is 79.91 m lenght,was built in the Troon’s shipyards in England, in 1964. At dawn on August 20, 1989, while navigating on the River Thames, collided with a passenger ship, suffering only some material damage. However, the acid transported caused more than 50 deaths. Some years later, it was sold to Portugal to operate in Madeira, as sand dredger. On March 25th 1996, this time in open sea, near Madalena do Mar, due to excess load sank quickly. The crew managed to save themselves. Today is an amazing artificial reef and attracts abundant marine life. The wreck is in excellent conditions and can be penetrated. Depht varies between 17mt and 34mt.
House reef
A few steps from the shop, a solid concrete jetty stretches out into the bay, sheltered from the wind. Equipped with stairs, handrails and a practical platform at the sea surface level, our jetty offers an easy entry and exit point for divers and swimmers. It is an easy and lovely dive spot, where the alternate between rocky and sandy bottoms allows to spot different species of marine organisms, such as octopi and cuttlefish, barracudas, stingrays, and eagle rays, moray eels, and much more.