For scuba diving at its best, plan a timeshare vacation this summer to take you to one of these top diving spots that center around sunken, wrecked ships.
Part of the fun of diving is encountering magnificent reefs that are underwater habitats to an amazing variety of marine life. Some of the reefs are actually wrecks of ships that have been transformed by ongoing biological action into marine habitats.
A bonus of diving these wrecks is the opportunity to not only encounter beautiful and unusual marine life, but the chance to explore the sunken ship itself.
Below are 3 top wreck diving sites, each near budget-friendly timeshare rentals.
1. USS Spiegel Grove – Location: Key Largo, Florida Keys. The 510-foot-long LSD (Landing Ship Dock) USS Spiegel Grove, is one of the world’s largest purposely sunk wrecks, stretching out almost the length of two football fields. The ship is covered in green lobed star corals and assorted whips and fans.
The wheelhouse’s interior walls are covered in circular orange cup corals “so thick they appear to be serving as insulation.” And amazingly you’ll see an American flag on the ship’s bow, caked over in silt, stripes barely visible.
Florida Keys timeshare rentals start at just $114/night
2. Pelinaion – Location: St. David’s Head, Bermuda. In 1939 the St. David’s lighthouse was under a blackout due to the war. Without its beacon, the captain of this Greek steamer miscalculated his ship’s position, and a few hundred feet from shore the ship struck the reef.
The remains of the Pelinaion are now scattered across the reef with the ship’s steel hull bridging two sections of reef, creating a manmade cavern.
A bonus to this dive site is a spot where coral and steel have created a descending, cave-like chute that goes from relatively shallow inshore water near the bow, and descends to deeper water outside the reef.
Bermuda timeshare rentals start at $236/night.
3. U-352 – Location: North Carolina, USA. In an area of North Carolina’s Outer Banks known as the “Graveyard of the Atlantic,” the U-352 is the premier wreck.
On May 9, 1942, this German sub fired on the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Icarus, which dodged the torpedoes and answered with a depth charge attack that forced the U-352 to the surface.
The sub’s commander ordered his crew to scuttle their vessel and abandon ship.
Although its outer hull has long since rusted away, the pressure hull remains intact, sitting on the sandy bottom with a 45-degree list to starboard.
North Carolina Outer Banks timeshare rentals start at just $85/night.
Source: Scubadiving.com
Photo Credit top: sfdi.com
Photo Credit (1): vimeo.com
Photo Credit (2): diveholys.com
Photo Credit (3): eicheworldview.blogspot.com