Madeira · Portugal · Wreck · Artificial reef
Wreck of the NRP Afonso Cerqueira
An 85 m navy corvette sunk as a reef at 30 m
Photo: Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0
An 85 m Portuguese Navy corvette scuttled off Cabo Girão on 4 September 2018 to work as an artificial reef, the Afonso Cerqueira is a purpose-sunk wreck dive on Madeira's south coast. She sits at 30 m about 400 m from shore inside the Cabo Girão marine park, reached by boat from the dive shops of Funchal.
Also known as Afonso Cerqueira (F488).
Where it is and how deep
32.6565° N, 17.0045° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The Afonso Cerqueira lies roughly 400 m off the coast south of Cabo Girão, at a depth of 30 m, inside the marine park that covers that stretch of the south coast. She is 85 m long, 10.3 m in the beam and drew 3.3 m at most when she was still running, so the hull is a substantial piece of steel on the seabed rather than a small scuttling.
Thirty metres sets the shape of the dive: no-decompression time is short and gas goes quickly at that depth, so the profile is planned around a single pass along the structure and an early turn. The ship was put down deliberately as an artificial reef, to provide a habitat for marine species, but how the route runs across her, and what has grown on her since 2018, are not known.
She is dived from a boat out of the Funchal-area shops, which run the Cabo Girão marine park alongside the Garajau marine reserve as the best diving on the island. The position given here is the Cabo Girão landmark she was sunk off rather than a surveyed wreck position, so the boat's mooring or shot is what actually puts you on her.
The wreck
- Vessel
- NRP Afonso Cerqueira (F488)
- Type
- Baptista de Andrade-class corvette
- Length
- 85 m (279 ft)
- Built
- 1973
- Sunk
- 2018
- Cause
- Deliberately scuttled to create an artificial reef
- Lies
- At 30 m, about 400 m offshore south of Cabo Girão
Ordered for the Portuguese Navy and built by Bazán at Cartagena in Spain, the Afonso Cerqueira had her keel laid on 10 March 1973, was launched on 6 October 1973 and commissioned on 28 June 1975. She spent forty years on surveillance, rescue and training duties out of Lisbon, covering the Azores, Madeira and the Portuguese exclusive economic zone, and was decommissioned on 11 March 2015. On 4 September 2018 she was sunk off Cabo Girão to serve as an artificial reef.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Madeira: Jun–Sep brings the warmest water and best odds of manta rays around the Desertas; diving continues year-round but cooler and rougher in winter.
Photos from Wreck of the NRP Afonso Cerqueira
Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0
Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0
Diego Delso · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dive videos
Diving the Corveta Afonso Cerqueira (F488) in Madeira · Spaceman Chewy on YouTube
Corveta Afonso Cerqueira F488 · 200 Bar Scuba Diving on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Afonso Cerqueira wreck?+
The wreck lies at 30 m, roughly 400 m off the coast south of Cabo Girão, which puts it beyond recreational open-water limits and into deep-dive planning.
When was the Afonso Cerqueira sunk?+
She was scuttled on 4 September 2018, three years after being decommissioned from the Portuguese Navy, specifically to create an artificial reef off Madeira.
Sources
- NRP Afonso Cerqueira (F488) — Wikipedia (ES)
- Afonso Cerqueira (Schiff) — Wikipedia (DE)
- Sport in Madeira — Wikipedia
- Bootstauchgänge (boat dives) — Manta Diving Madeira
Photo credits
- Diver hovering over the aft deck gun of the sunken corvette Afonso Cerqueira by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Two divers swimming over the bow deck of the wreck with mooring bollards and open hatches by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Corroded interior passage and porthole opening inside the sunken hull by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Overhead view of the deck gun turret and surrounding railings encrusted with marine growth by Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In The Logbook
- Ships sunk on purpose, and where to dive themWrecks · 14 min read
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