Mar del Plata · Argentina · Wreck
Simbad
A 51 m steel fishing vessel scuttled in 2022
Area photo: FarSouthNavy · CC BY 4.0
The Simbad is a 51 m French-built fishing vessel, launched in 1976 and scuttled in the Cristo Rey underwater park on 2 August 2022. It lies at more than 25 m, and within 15 months its steel plates and pipes were colonised inside and out, which made it a new draw for the park's divers.
Where it is and how deep
38.1236° S, 57.5046° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The Simbad was placed in the same sector of the seabed as the hulls of the Cristo Rey and the Khronometer. The ship lies at more than 25 m, and divers move along a 51 m steel hull with a beam of 8.5 m.
The hull was cleaned and decontaminated before the sinking. In the 15 months that followed it filled with marine life, and photographs and video from that time show the steel plates and pipes colonised both outside and inside the ship. Researchers from the national university took an interest in studying the marine life that settles on the structure.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Simbad
- Type
- French-built deep-sea fishing vessel
- Length
- 51 m (167 ft)
- Built
- 1976
- Sunk
- 2022
- Cause
- Scuttled in the Cristo Rey park on 2 August 2022 after cleaning and decontamination
- Lies
- At more than 25 m in the Cristo Rey park, beside the Cristo Rey and the Khronometer
Launched in France in 1976, the Simbad worked as a deep-sea fishing vessel until 2019 and then sat out of service in the port, taking up berth space. Its owner donated it, and the port consortium, the Prefectura Naval Argentina and the Thalassa diving club coordinated the tow and sinking on 2 August 2022, as part of a plan to clear inactive ships from the port's quays.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good |
Season follows Mar del Plata: The best months are September to November and March to May. Water falls to 8–16 °C from May to September, though club boats still go out in July.
Dive videos
Naufragio Simbad 2022 Mar del Plata · Gustavo Latorre on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Simbad wreck in Mar del Plata?+
The Simbad lies at more than 25 m in the Cristo Rey underwater park.
When was the Simbad sunk?+
The fishing vessel was scuttled in the Cristo Rey park on 2 August 2022, after cleaning and decontamination of the hull.
Sources
- El parque submarino Cristo Rey sumó al pesquero Simbad — Diario La Capital de Mar del Plata
- El pesquero Simbad, hundido hace un año, es el nuevo gran atractivo del parque submarino Cristo Rey — AHORA Mar del Plata
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