Crozon Peninsula & the Iroise Marine Park · France · Wreck · Artificial reef
Castel-Meur wreck
A huge school of pouting wraps the hull, with bass, pollack and John Dory
The Castel-Meur is a stern trawler scuttled in the middle of the Baie de Douarnenez as an artificial reef, one of three wrecks lying close together on the sandy floor. The hull now carries dense fixed life and draws big shoals of fish, and with practically no current and a hull that is easy to navigate, it is a straightforward wreck dive for its depth.
Also known as Castel Meur, Castel-meur.
Where it is and how deep
48.1536° N, 4.4123° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The trawler rests on a sand bottom at 33 m, a short distance from the sloop La Meuse, at the centre of the bay. It lists 45° to starboard, and its fishing gantry rises to 20 m, so a dive plan can work up the structure to shorten the stops. As across the whole inner Baie de Douarnenez, the current is practically nil whatever the hour or the tidal coefficient, so the wreck is best kept for big-tide days, leaving the smaller tides for sites more sensitive to current. An enormous school of pouting surrounds the wreck and pulls in bass, pollack and John Dory.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Castel-Meur
- Type
- Semi-industrial stern trawler
- Sunk
- 1984
- Cause
- Capsized on relaunch after a refit at Douarnenez, abandoned in the port, then cleaned and scuttled as an artificial reef
- Lies
- On sand at 33 m in the middle of the Baie de Douarnenez, near La Meuse
The semi-industrial stern trawler Castel-Meur was built at Courseulles-sur-Mer. While being refitted at Douarnenez it capsized as it went back into the water; a specialised crane had to be brought from Germany to right it, but the damage was so great that the boat was left in the harbour as a cumbersome hulk. In 1984 it was cleaned of pollutants and sunk in the middle of the bay to form an artificial reef for fixed fauna and fish.
Marine life and season
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Crozon Peninsula & the Iroise Marine Park: Morgat dives from April to November and no month stands out; nothing says the boats run from December to March.
Know before you go
- The decks are too steep to rest on at a 45° list; a diver who settles on them slides towards the bottom, so hold buoyancy off the hull.
- The interiors of the bay's wrecks have become too dangerous to enter; the dive stays outside the hull.
Sources
- Les spots de plongée de la baie de Douarnenez — Centre ISA
- Les épaves de la baie de Douarnenez — Centre ISA
- La Plongée sur l'Épave du Castel-Meur — VVA Natation
More dive sites in Crozon Peninsula & the Iroise Marine Park
The storm-wrecked ruins of a breakwater, a maze of caves beside Morgat port
A First World War cargo ship with its propeller and rudder still in place
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