Naufrágio Pinguino

Sítio Forte is a cove on the inner, mainland-facing side of Ilha Grande, and the Pinguino sits in the middle of it at 18 m. That is the whole profile: one level on a sheltered bottom, with the hull as the only structure to work. Scubago rates it the best-preserved shipwreck in the Costa Verde region, and at that depth there is enough bottom time to go round it more than once rather than making a single pass and heading up.

Plan the dive on the outside. Penetration is not allowed here, so the route is a lap of the hull followed by a slower pass close to the plating rather than anything through it. The wreck is one of the points with the most concentrated fauna in the inner bay: schools of mullet, pirajica and big-eyes hold around the structure, and they are the reason to stop covering ground and let the dive come to you.

Nothing is published about the ship herself: no vessel type, no build or sinking date and no account of how she came to be here, so the guide's briefing is the only history you will get. Visibility, current and water temperature are not published for this site either, and the bay's general figures are the working assumption until the briefing says otherwise. What the source does fix is the part that governs the plan — 18 m, in the middle of a sheltered cove, with the inside off limits.