Wreck Diving in the Gulf of Genoa
The Gulf of Genoa is renowned not only for its naturalistic wonders, but also for being littered with wrecks of many boats, deriving both from merchant traffic, which has made Genoa one of the main ports in the Mediterranean, and for the intense war activity that took place in this stretch of sea during World War II. Wreck lovers will surely find the many recreational and technical dives in this area interesting, challenging and fulfilling.
HAVEN
334 meters long and 26 meters wide, this large oil tanker it sank off Arenzano on April 14, 1991, due to a very powerful and uncontrollable fire that developed onboard. The images of this terrible tragedy spread around the world. Given its technical characteristics, diving on the Haven wreck can be conducted by both recreational and technical divers, even if only technical divers will be able to enjoy the dive at its fullest.
MAX DEPTH: 90m
PELAGOSA
The Pelagosa minelayer sank on 9 September 1943, hit by the powerful cannons of Monte Moro still in the hands of the German army during World War II. The ship was heading off to the coast of Sardinia where it was supposed to join the rest of the Italian fleet of Admiral Bergamini in command of the battleship "Roma". Today, the wreck lies broken into two sections at a depth between 30 and 37 meters.
MAX DEPTH: 38 m
MOHAWK DEER
The Mohawk Deer is a 4500-tonne Canadian ship. After a long, troubled life, in 1967 it was sailing along the Portofino coast, towed by a tug to be demolished. For some reason, a ship's cable broke during transport and the ship, at the mercy of the winds and the sea, broke into two sections, crashing against the cliffs of Portofino, and sank. Now it lies on the seabed of Cala Raffinale.
MAX DEPTH: 40m
LA CHIATTA
It is a sunken barge just outside the dam of the Port of Genoa. Functional site for first dives and exercises.
MAX DEPTH: 25m
VAS
The wreck lies in navigation position and the direct descent into the blue, given its small size, on days of good visibility makes it visible from a depth of around 30 meters. Once on the deck, the tour begins towards the part of the stern which has been broken down and sunk into the sand. You can still see the disordered remains of the protections of the stern gun and of the now flooded depth bomb, menacingly leaning on the starboard side, as if it were ready to be released. Nearby, the remains of the supports for the lifeboat, patrolled by some proud scorpionfish, as if they were their jealous keepers.
MAX DEPTH: 5 0m
VAPORETTO
The structure of the wreck is that of a small coastal vessel used for freight transport. The wreck, also called "Vaporetto", lies on the seabed in front of Genoa and is now divided into three chunks.
The part of the forward section where the winches and two large anchors are still visible is particularly beautiful. The bow, lying on the left side, can be visited inside, while one of the anchors is still attached to the chain right under the bow. The boiler, located in the stern section is very interesting.
MAX DEPTH: 33 m