Lake Malawi · Malawi · Wreck · Artificial reef · Freshwater
Usipa Wreck
Kampango out on the sand around the hull
Area photo: Hans Hillewaert · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Usipa is an old ferry that sank in 1998 and now lies 30 m down, the deepest of the sites the Cape Maclear operator lists. The hull works as an artificial reef in fresh water, and the sand around it is where the lake's kampango catfish sit, at a depth well below the rest of the diving here.
Where it is and how deep
No published position for this site — the map shows Lake Malawi and its other sites; operators know the mooring.
The dive
This is the deep dive of the area. The ferry sits 30 m below the surface, which puts the dive on a short no-stop clock and rules out the long, static watching that the shallow rock sites here are built around. Agree a bottom time and a turn point before you go in, and treat it as a planned descent rather than a wander over the ground.
The hull has become an artificial reef in fresh water, but the fish that make the dive are on the ground beside it: kampango, Bagrus meridionalis, the lake's big catfish, out on the sandy bottom around the wreck and reported as very large. Come back up with time in hand, because at this depth and this altitude the ascent is the part that wants care.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Usipa
- Type
- Ferry
- Sunk
- 1998
- Cause
- Not recorded in the published sources.
- Lies
- On the bottom at 30 m, with sand around the hull.
Marine life and season
- Freshwater fish
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair |
Season follows Lake Malawi: May to October is the dry, settled stretch; the rains run from November to April and are heaviest from December to March.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Usipa wreck?+
It lies 30 m below the surface, which the Cape Maclear operator that runs it rates as an Advanced Open Water dive rather than an Open Water one.
Sources
- Cape Maclear Scuba - Diving — Cape Maclear Scuba
- Dive Lake Malawi in Africa — Scuba.com
- Kampango catfish on sandy bottom around Usipa wreck — naturepl.com
In The Logbook
- Altitude diving: how the rules changeBody & health · 7 min read
- How long to wait before flying after divingBody & health · 8 min read
- Freshwater diving: lakes, springs and quarriesFreshwater · 15 min read
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