Nassau & New Providence · Bahamas · Artificial reef · Reef
Tears of Allah
Connery's escape freighter, 30 m of hull in 12 m of water
Area photo: Rüdiger Stehn · CC BY-SA 2.0
The 100 ft (30 m) freighter that Sean Connery's Bond used to escape a tiger shark in the 1983 film Never Say Never Again, sitting in 40 ft (12 m) of water off the south-western coast of Nassau. Coral coverage, sponges and plume worms have grown over it and the fish life is heavy. The Vulcan Bomber frame lies alongside, close enough to dive on the same tank.
Also known as James Bond Wrecks.
Where it is and how deep
No published position for this site — the map shows Nassau & New Providence and its other sites; operators know the mooring.
The dive
The freighter and the bomber frame lie next to each other in 40 ft (12 m), so a single drop covers both and the order is usually the boat's choice. The ship is 100 ft (30 m) long and sits in the open on sand, which makes the dive a straightforward circuit of the hull: down one side, around the stern, back along the other, with the whole structure in sight from a few metres off.
Coral coverage, sponges and plume worms have taken the plating, so the shapes read as reef before they read as ship, and the fish life around the hull is heavy. Depth never becomes the limit here, and pale sand under a 12 m ceiling keeps the light strong for photographs of the full length of the vessel. Most divers cross to the bomber frame with whatever gas is left rather than repeating the lap.
Background
Filming for Never Say Never Again began on 27 September 1982 on the French Riviera and moved to Nassau in mid-November, where the unit worked at Clifton Pier on the south-western coast of New Providence. The 1983 film is the one in which Connery's Bond uses this freighter to escape a tiger shark attack. Clifton Pier had already served as a location for Thunderball, and the bomber frame built for that 1965 film lies next to the freighter on the same patch of sand.
Marine life and season
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime |
Season follows Nassau & New Providence: Diving is year-round; Nov–May is calmest and clearest, and Aug–Oct hurricane season brings the most cancelled days.
Dive videos
Diving the Tears of Allah from James Bond: Never Say Never Again · Deep Dive With Ian on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Which Bond film is the Tears of Allah from?+
Never Say Never Again, released in 1983 and shot in Nassau from mid-November 1982 after two months on the French Riviera. The 100 ft (30 m) freighter is the ship Connery's Bond used to escape a tiger shark attack.
How deep is the Tears of Allah wreck?+
It sits in 40 ft (12 m) of water off the south-western coast of Nassau, next to the Vulcan Bomber frame. That is an Open Water depth, and gas rather than the profile ends the dive.
Sources
- Nassau/New Providence Dive Sites — Dive The World
- Production of the James Bond films — Wikipedia
More dive sites in Nassau & New Providence
Wreck
A film-prop Cessna 310 at 18 m beside the Clifton Wall
Blue hole
A 30 m-wide hole rimmed with coral at 12 m, dropping to 60 m
Artificial reef
A 60-ton, five-metre sculpture standing in five metres of water
Reef
Sea fans and sponge-covered coral heads in 8 m of water
Wreck
A 60 m freighter sunk upright in 2003, bow at 12 m
Reef
Dozens of Caribbean reef sharks at 12 m, on a baited feed
Artificial reef
A Thunderball film prop under coral and sponges at 12 m
Similar dives elsewhere
A sunken tug in 5 m of water, straight off the beach
More than 100 sculptures in Molinere Bay, the deepest at 12 m
Fish schooling in the shade under a working salt pier
Cannons and a musket rack set out on a park reef