A small tug that sank more than thirty years ago and now rests in 5 metres of water off Tugboat Beach in Caracas Bay, inside the Curaçao National Marine Park. It is a walk-in shore dive, shallow enough that the light stays on it throughout, and it doubles as a beginner site and a photography subject.
Also known as Saba Tugboat.
Where it is and how deep
12.0724° N, 68.8666° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
Entry is from Tugboat Beach at Caracas Bay, and the tug is close enough in that the surface swim is short. It rests in 5 metres of water, so the whole dive happens in sunlight and a tank lasts a long time — there is no reason to rush a lap of the hull, and most divers make several before moving onto the reef around it.
The tug and the reef beside it hold parrotfish, trumpetfish, angelfish and moray eels, with schools of chromis over the structure in the sunlight, and barracuda and turtles passing through. Many divers link the site with Director's Bay along the shoreline; that connecting stretch is where mild current is most likely, though conditions here are usually calm.
Marine life and season
- Barracuda
- Sea turtles
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Curaçao: Diving runs all year; October to February is the rainy season, and May to November brings warmer water and fewer crowds.
Know before you go
- Usually calm, but mild current can run along the shore, most often on the connecting swim between Director's Bay and the Tugboat — check it before committing to the traverse.
Photos from Tugboat
dronepicr · CC BY 2.0
Dive videos
Diving around the Tugboat at Curacao (4K) · Sander de Gans on YouTube
Diving Tugboat Beach Curaçao | The Shore Dive Collection | TropicLens 4K · TropicLens on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Can beginners dive the Tugboat?+
Yes. Open Water is the stated minimum, the wreck sits in 5 metres of water off a beach entry, and conditions are usually calm.
Sources
- Tugboat Wreck Dive Site — Dive Curaçao (divecuracao.info)
Photo credits
- Sunken tugboat wreck on the sandy bottom with reef fish swimming around it by dronepicr, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Aerial view of the tugboat wreck's outline through clear shallow water by dronepicr, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In The Logbook
- The best shore dives in the worldShore diving · 8 min read
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