Illas Cíes & Ría de Vigo · Spain · Wreck · Reef
Ría de Vigo
Four wrecks between 14 m and the 50 m floor of the ría
Photo: Contando Estrelas from Vigo, España / Spain · CC BY-SA 2.0
The ría is the wreck-diving side of Vigo, and the ships lie around its outer mouth rather than in the inner estuary: the fishing boat Achondo off Monteferro, the broken ore carrier Ivy at the Serralleiras islets, the 1909 liner Southern Cross at 14 m off Cangas, and the Mar de Marín at the 50 m floor of the ría. Depth sorts them into who dives what.
Also known as Ria de Vigo estuary.
Where it is and how deep
42.1465° N, 8.8561° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
Start shallow. The Southern Cross, an English transatlantic liner that grounded on the A Borneira shoals off Cangas on Christmas Eve 1909, lies in barely 14 m near the lighthouse and is the one wreck here that recreational divers, including beginners, can be taken over. It is the oldest of the four and the shallowest, which is what makes it the introduction rather than the objective.
The Ivy is the biggest thing on the bottom. The Liberian-flagged ore carrier, 216 m long and 55,000 tonnes, ran aground near the Serralleiras lighthouse on 30 January 1976 with five dead, and the hull has since broken into fragments lying no deeper than 24 m. Half a century of water has turned it into a reef: molluscs, sea cucumbers, starfish and nudibranchs on the plating, sponges and dead man's fingers soft coral, and shoals of pouting and seabass over the whole of it.
Deeper again are the two fishing boats. The Achondo, a longliner that struck the shoals by the Serralleiras light in 1986, is the most intact and most-visited wreck in the ría, lying over on rocks with the sand floor at 39 m. The Mar de Marín, sunk in 2014 after a collision with the merchant ship Baltic Breeze, sits almost undamaged at about 50 m — the deepest water in the ría, and a dive that needs a technical qualification rather than an advanced card.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Achondo
- Type
- Longline fishing vessel
- Sunk
- 1986
- Cause
- Struck shoals by the Serralleiras lighthouse in the Estelas islands
- Lies
- Listing on rocks off Monteferro, sand floor at 39 m
The ría has been swallowing ships for a long time, and four of them are dived. The Southern Cross grounded on the A Borneira shoals off Cangas on Christmas Eve 1909. The ore carrier Ivy, inbound from Brazil, ran aground by the Serralleiras lighthouse on 30 January 1976 and five people died. The longliner Achondo struck shoals by the same light in 1986. Most recently the Mar de Marín was sunk in 2014 by a collision with the propeller of the merchant ship Baltic Breeze, which killed five of her crew.
Marine life and season
- Nudibranchs
- Macro critters
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Off-season | Off-season |
Season follows Illas Cíes & Ría de Vigo: Jun–Sep is the practical season, when Atlantic swell drops and park access is easiest; winter storms close the islands to diving.
Know before you go
- The Mar de Marín is a genuine technical dive: an instructor died on a descent to it in 2016, and it should only be dived with the right qualification, gas and team.
- Penetration on these wrecks silts out fast — fin wash or bubbles can bring material down on you, kill the visibility and leave you snagged, so stay outside unless you are trained and guided for it.
Photos from Ría de Vigo
Miguel Lima Medín (Miguel.lima) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Contando Estrelas from Vigo, España / Spain · CC BY-SA 2.0
Dive videos
⚓ ¡EL ATXONDO! UN PESQUERO HUNDIDO EN AGUAS VERDES A 38 METROS 🌊🇪🇸 | Atxondo | Vigo | 15-07-2015 🤿 · Producciones Maldisub on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Which Vigo wreck can a beginner dive?+
The Southern Cross. The 1909 liner lies in about 14 m near the A Borneira lighthouse off Cangas, shallow enough to be dived recreationally, including by beginners.
How deep is the Mar de Marín?+
About 50 m, which is also the deepest water in the ría. It is nearly intact but requires a technical diving qualification, and it has killed a diver — an instructor died there on a descent in 2016.
Where exactly are the Vigo wrecks?+
Around the outer mouth of the ría rather than the inner estuary: the Ivy, Achondo and Mar de Marín lie near the Serralleiras lighthouse in the Estelas islets and off Monteferro, and the Southern Cross off Cangas. No public position is published for any of them, so the pin marks the Estelas cluster.
Sources
- Buceo en pecios: inmersión en la historia de la ría de Vigo — Faro de Vigo
- Buceo en Vigo | Bautismos, cursos PADI e inmersiones — Buceo Islas Cíes
- Illas Estelas — OpenStreetMap
Photo credits
- Rocky headland of Estela de Dentro island rising from the sea, waves breaking at its base by Contando Estrelas from Vigo, España / Spain, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- View down over the Ría de Vigo from a pine-covered hillside, with the city and coastline beyond by Miguel Lima Medín (Miguel.lima), CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Rain clouds discharging over the sea near the Estelas Islands, off Monteferro by Contando Estrelas from Vigo, España / Spain, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Antique hand-drawn nautical chart of the Ría de Vigo from 1809, with coastline, soundings and place names by Capitán de Navio e Yngeinero en Gefe D. Timoteo Roch, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
In The Logbook
- Deep wreck diving: where recreational stopsWrecks · 8 min read
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