Divers can visit shipwreck sites in the British Virgin Islands year-round, but every June now sees what the Caribbean island terms its Wreck Week, a seven-day “celebration of the territory’s rich maritime past and the vibrant underwater world that brings it to life”.
This year’s event runs from 15-21 June. The historic wreck must is the famed 19th-century Royal Mail Steamship Rhone at Salt Island, as featured in the almost-50-year-old movie The Deep. The 90m Rhone carried mail and passengers from England using both sail and steam, but was lost in a hurricane with the loss of 123 people in 1867.
Other easily accessed and intact BVI underwater attractions were deliberately sunk, one way or another. These include the “art reefs” Sharkplaneo at Virgin Gorda – three derelict aircraft creatively turned half-plane / half-shark by the group Beyond The Reef – and Kodiak Queen, a WW2 Navy fuel barge overwhelmed by a 24m kraken sculpture.
Willy T & Wreck Alley
This year the Willy T, a former “pirate-ship” floating bar, is to be sunk at Peter Island as an addition to this eclectic collection of underwater attractions.
Then there is the Wreck Alley quartet of doomed vessels, comprising the Island Seal cargo shipwreck from 2006, towed to the Cooper Island location to join another cargo boat, Marie L, and the tugboats Pat and Beata. All can be visited on a single dive.
At Tortola divers can explore the Chikuzen, a 74m Korean refrigerator vessel damaged in a hurricane in 1981, after which its owners set it alight in a botched attempt to dispose of it. The Chikuzen and other BVI wrecks that act as artificial reefs can attract a wide array of marine life including sharks, rays, turtles, barracuda and reef fish.
Between dives, Wreck Week is marked by feasts, bonfire beach parties, dances and live music, cultural performances and a beach-clean-up. Also available to coincide with the week are private dive-and-sail packages with Horizon Yacht Charters from 14-22 June. Find details of BVI Wreck Week at the tourist-board site.
Also on Divernet: BEYOND THE REEF STARTS TO TAKE SHAPE IN THE BVIS, BVI GETS BACK ON ITS FEET, SIR RICHARD BRANSON HELPS BVIS GAIN STUNNING ‘ART’-IFICIAL REEF
