Pipper

The site is on the northern edge of Makronissos, the long island that forms the western shore of the Kea Channel. The aircraft sits on the bottom in one piece and in good condition, with the airframe between 16 and 22 m, so the whole wreck is inside a single no-stop profile. Visibility is reported as excellent on every dive, which means the shape of the aircraft reads from a distance rather than having to be assembled panel by panel.

Around and under the airframe is where the dive slows down. Groupers hold near the structure, mullet pass over it, and octopus, crabs and shrimps use the wreck and the ground around it as cover. Anemones, sponges, soft corals, sea stars and shells cover the hard surfaces, and scorpionfish sit still on them, which is worth knowing before you put a hand down anywhere. The mix rewards a slow lap with a macro lens as much as a wide shot of the aircraft.

The site is compact — six metres of water between the shallowest part of the airframe and the deepest — so the dive is about time spent on one object rather than ground covered. Even at that depth the published description rates it as a dive mainly for advanced divers, so do not read the shallow numbers as a promise of easy conditions.