Corsica · France · Wreck
La Pinella
A 45 m cement ship on sand, deck at 6 m
Area photo: Reustli · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Pinella lies near the Pecorella lighthouse at the exit of the gulf of Porto-Vecchio: a 45 m cement ship resting on a sandy seabed, its deck at around 6 m and the maximum depth 12 m. The catalogue rates it as accessible to beginners and experienced divers alike, which the published depth range bears out.
Where it is and how deep
41.6213° N, 9.3702° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The wreck sits on sand at the mouth of the gulf of Porto-Vecchio, near the Pecorella lighthouse, with the deck at around 6 m and nothing deeper than 12 m anywhere on the site. That is a rare combination for a ship of this size: 45 m of hull that you can circle more than once on a single tank without ever leaving the safety-stop band.
Start at one end and swim the length of the hull along the sand, then come back over the deck at 6 m, which is where the light is and where the shape of the ship reads best. Because the profile is so flat, the limit on this dive is gas rather than no-decompression time, so a long slow lap is the right way to work it.
The catalogue lists it as accessible to beginners and experienced divers alike, and the shallow deck is what makes that true: a newly certified diver can dive it as a swim-around, while anyone with wreck training has a whole hull to work along. Sand means silt, so keep off the bottom or the divers behind you will see nothing.
The wreck
- Vessel
- La Pinella
- Type
- Cement carrier
- Length
- 45 m (148 ft)
- Cause
- Not published in any source found for this site
- Lies
- Resting on a sandy seabed, deck at around 6 m and the maximum depth 12 m
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Off-season |
Season follows Corsica: Operators run Apr–Oct with July and August warmest; the Bouches de Bonifacio funnel wind and can close the crossing at short notice.
Questions divers ask
Is La Pinella a beginner wreck dive?+
The catalogue lists it as accessible to beginners and experienced divers alike. The deck lies at around 6 m and the sandy seabed at a maximum of 12 m, so the whole dive stays within Open Water depth limits.
Sources
- La pinella — Scubago
More dive sites in Corsica
Rock formations and faults on ground from 5 to 30 metres
Sand slope
A sandbar edge from 3 m to 15 m, used for courses
A 3 m to 15 m nursery plateau in an island reserve
Stepped plateaus at 6 to 20 metres off a bird-sanctuary island
Catalogued from 10 to 30 metres on the Chiappa cape
Catalogued from 15 m down to 40 m off Porto-Vecchio
Sand slope
Sand bank, seagrass and rock under the Chiappa light
Pinnacle
Two rock plateaus at 3 m with 36 m of water around them
Similar dives elsewhere
A dynamited navy tug in 5–10 m off Illa Mateua
A 25 m cod boat lost in a storm in 1913, on 12 m of sand
A 1915 British submarine in 8 m off Kepez Point
Four Yarrow boilers standing in 13 m of Suvla Bay sand