Oʻahu · United States · Wreck
YO-257
Navy yard oiler upright, top deck at 26 m
Area photo: mattk1979 · CC BY-SA 2.0
A US Navy yard oiler built in 1938, scuttled off Waikiki in 1989 and now the best-known wreck dive on the island. She sits upright with her top deck at 26 m and the seabed at 30 m, a descent line always rigged to her mooring buoys, and the San Pedro lying directly abeam for divers with the gas to visit both.
Also known as the YO.
Where it is and how deep
21.2746° N, 157.8376° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
You go down the line: one is always rigged from the mooring buoys to the wreck, which matters because there is sometimes a strong current at the surface. It eases as you get closer to the ship, and by the time the deck comes up at 26 m the water is usually settled. The seabed around her is at about 30 m, so the whole dive sits in a narrow band of depth.
The standard plan is short and simple — 20 minutes at about 27 m and up — which is enough to work the length of a 53 m ship once and no more. Turtles and reef sharks, whitetips among them, are the reliable residents on the structure. The San Pedro lies directly abeam, sunk seven years later by the same operator, and shops that know both often put the pair into one plan.
The wreck
- Vessel
- YO-257
- Type
- Yard oiler (self-propelled fuel barge)
- Length
- 53 m (174 ft)
- Built
- 1938
- Sunk
- 1989
- Cause
- Bought by Atlantis Submarines Hawaii after decommissioning and scuttled as an artificial reef
- Lies
- Upright, top deck at 26 m with the seabed around her at 30 m
YO-257 was built in 1938 and served through the Second World War, the Korean War and Vietnam as a Navy yard oiler. Between 16 September and 12 November 1963 she was loaned to the Coast Guard to help build a LORAN navigation station on Yap in the Western Carolines, carrying water-based asphalt for the runway that would service the station. After decommissioning she was bought by Atlantis Submarines Hawaii and sunk off Waikiki in 1989.
Marine life and season
- Sea turtles
- Reef sharks
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good |
Season follows Oʻahu: South-shore boat diving runs all year; the North Shore reefs at Pupukea are only calm from about May to October and are dangerous in winter.
Know before you go
- Surface current can run strong over the wreck; the rigged descent line is the way down and the way back, not an optional handrail.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the YO-257?+
The top deck is at roughly 26 m and the sea floor around the ship at about 30 m. The typical dive profile is 90 ft (27 m) for 20 minutes, so advanced or deep training is the sensible level.
Can the YO-257 and San Pedro be dived together?+
They lie directly abeam of one another on the same patch of sand off Waikiki, the YO-257 sunk in 1989 and the San Pedro in 1996, and charters commonly plan the pair as a single dive.
Sources
- YO-257 (Wreck) — Scubago — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide
- YO-257 — Wikipedia — Wikipedia
- Oahu — Wikivoyage — Wikivoyage
- Discover the Best Dive Sites in Honolulu — Rainbow Scuba Hawaii
- NOAA ENC Direct-to-GIS charted wrecks (enc_harbour MapServer layer 36) — NOAA Office of Coast Survey
More dive sites in Oʻahu
Reef
Protected since 1967, about 400 fish species
Reef
Double horseshoe reef, nothing below 12 m
Wreck
Dilapidated barge at 24-27 m, no penetration
Wreck
Navy tug alone on sand at 20 m, sharks inside
Wreck
Sunk beside the YO-257, decks at 20 and 21 m
Wreck
Upright 58 m wreck, ten minutes off Waikiki
Reef
Half a mile of ledge, 7-12 m down to 18-24 m
Wall
Lava caves down a drifted wall to 43 m
Similar dives elsewhere
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A 55 m longliner upright on sand at 25 m
Submarine periscopes still stacked in the holds
Four battleship propellers, upside down at 33.5 m