2010 Top 100 Readers' Choice Survey - Wreck Diving
Wreck Diving
CARIBBEAN & ATLANTIC 1. Bermuda More than five centuries’ worth of fascinating wrecks lie beneath Bermuda’s storied Atlantic waters. You can dive everything from a French three-masted wooden warship that hit the reef in 1838 (L’Herminie) to a Civil War-era paddle-wheel blockader (Montana) to a nearly 500-foot-long luxury liner that rests in only about 50 feet of water (Cristobal Colon). All of these wrecks are part of the Bermuda Shipwreck Certificate program, which provides divers with free certificates highlighting the history of 21 of the estimated 300 ships that ring the island, just for diving it. But it’s what you can take away from seeing a lifetime’s worth of wrecks on the seafloor in one trip that’s the reason this destination took the No. 1 spot in our reader poll. Go Now » 2. St. Maarten/St. Martin 3. British Virgin Islands » PACIFIC 1. Red Sea If you’re surprised the Red Sea topped the list over the wreck graveyards of Micronesia (featuring Palau, Truk and Bikini), don’t be. Even if you never make it to the region’s most famous wreck, Egypt’s Thistlegorm –– a World War II British cargo ship with holds full of photogenic BSA motorcycles, Bedford trucks and tanks –– there are plenty of spectacular sites to keep wreck-lovers entertained. Take your pick from the Giannis D, a cargo ship bursting with soft corals; the Salem Express, which sank carrying pilgrims returning from Mecca; or, if you’re willing to venture farther south to Sudan, dive the Umbria, Blue Belt and the remains of Cousteau’s 1963 Conshelf II undersea living and research station. Go Now » 2. Micronesia 3. Philippines NORTH AMERICA 1. North Carolina If having the nickname “Graveyard of the Atlantic” doesn’t earn the waters surrounding North Carolina a stellar rating among readers, we don’t know what would. You could spend a week underwater here and still not hit every ship, with everything from German U boats to the remains of the most infamous pirate ship in history, Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge. But perhaps the most popular wreck in the area is the U-352, a German submarine brought down by depth charges from the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Icarus. With so many historically significant wreck dives, we put it high on our list too. Go Now » 2. Canada/British Columbia » 3. New York/New Jersey »
Wreck Diving
CARIBBEAN & ATLANTIC 1. Bermuda More than five centuries’ worth of fascinating wrecks lie beneath Bermuda’s storied Atlantic waters. You can dive everything from a French three-masted wooden warship that hit the reef in 1838 (L’Herminie) to a Civil War-era paddle-wheel blockader (Montana) to a nearly 500-foot-long luxury liner that rests in only about 50 feet of water (Cristobal Colon). All of these wrecks are part of the Bermuda Shipwreck Certificate program, which provides divers with free certificates highlighting the history of 21 of the estimated 300 ships that ring the island, just for diving it. But it’s what you can take away from seeing a lifetime’s worth of wrecks on the seafloor in one trip that’s the reason this destination took the No. 1 spot in our reader poll. Go Now » 2. St. Maarten/St. Martin 3. British Virgin Islands » PACIFIC 1. Red Sea If you’re surprised the Red Sea topped the list over the wreck graveyards of Micronesia (featuring Palau, Truk and Bikini), don’t be. Even if you never make it to the region’s most famous wreck, Egypt’s Thistlegorm –– a World War II British cargo ship with holds full of photogenic BSA motorcycles, Bedford trucks and tanks –– there are plenty of spectacular sites to keep wreck-lovers entertained. Take your pick from the Giannis D, a cargo ship bursting with soft corals; the Salem Express, which sank carrying pilgrims returning from Mecca; or, if you’re willing to venture farther south to Sudan, dive the Umbria, Blue Belt and the remains of Cousteau’s 1963 Conshelf II undersea living and research station. Go Now » 2. Micronesia 3. Philippines NORTH AMERICA 1. North Carolina If having the nickname “Graveyard of the Atlantic” doesn’t earn the waters surrounding North Carolina a stellar rating among readers, we don’t know what would. You could spend a week underwater here and still not hit every ship, with everything from German U boats to the remains of the most infamous pirate ship in history, Blackbeard’s Queen Anne’s Revenge. But perhaps the most popular wreck in the area is the U-352, a German submarine brought down by depth charges from the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Icarus. With so many historically significant wreck dives, we put it high on our list too. Go Now » 2. Canada/British Columbia » 3. New York/New Jersey »
