Menorca · Spain · Wreck
Santa Clara
A 45 m fishing boat on sand at 47 metres off Punta de Rafalet
Area photo: Alejandro Muñoz Cabrisas · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Santa Clara is a fishing boat about 45 metres long lying on sand off Punta de Rafalet at around 47 metres, the second of S'Algar Diving's two deep house wrecks. Nothing has been published about how or when she sank. The dive is deep, short and restricted to experienced divers, and for the depth the hull carries a lot of life.
Where it is and how deep
39.8398° N, 4.3227° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
This is a deep drop onto sand off Punta de Rafalet: Scubago puts the wreck at over 40 metres, while S'Algar Diving and Binibeca Diving both give 47. The silhouette of the ship shows first, usually with large schools of fish already standing over it, and from there the dive is one worked pass along a boat of about 45 metres with the bottom time that depth allows and no more.
On the deck the detail is small and dense — a variety of nudibranchs, moray eels and crabs over the structure, and sometimes a large conger sitting in the wreck. Binibeca Diving records the remains of a military land vehicle on the bottom near the ship, worth the detour if the gas plan has room for it before the ascent, since there is no shallow feature here to spend a slack minute on.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Santa Clara
- Type
- Fishing boat
- Length
- 45 m (148 ft)
- Cause
- No published account of how or when she sank
- Lies
- On a sandy bottom at about 47 m off Punta de Rafalet
No build date, sinking date or cause has been published for the Santa Clara. The operators who dive her describe her only as a fishing boat of about 45 metres, lying on sand in deep water off Punta de Rafalet, and treat her as one of two deep house wrecks rather than as a documented historical loss. Binibeca Diving adds the single extra detail on the site: the remains of a military land vehicle lie on the bottom close to the wreck.
Marine life and season
- Reef fish swarms
- Nudibranchs
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Off-season |
Season follows Menorca: Menorca's tourist season runs May to October; June to September holds the warmest water, near 25–27°C in August, while February and March fall to about 12–14°C.
Know before you go
- The sand is at about 47 m with nothing shallower nearby, so the whole dive is on the gas plan and the turn time — both operators restrict it to divers with the qualification for that depth.
Dive videos
Santa Clara Wreck Dive - Menorca · Huw Owen on YouTube
Menorca sub, relitto Santa Clara · adventuresub on YouTube
Sources
- Santa Clara — Scubago
- Diving in Menorca's Marine Reserve - Dive Sites — S'Algar Diving
- Bucear en Menorca, nuestro top 10 de inmersiones en la isla — Binibeca Diving
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