Sesimbra & the Arrábida, the area around Barco das Telhas

Sesimbra & the Arrábida · Portugal · Wreck

Barco das Telhas

Tile-carrying wreck at 55–65 m, expert divers only

Area photo: YukioSanjo · CC BY-SA 4.0

A small transport vessel that went down with a cargo of tiles, which is where the site name comes from — the tile boat. It lies between 55 and 65 m depending on the tide, past every recreational limit, and the published guidance is blunt: expert divers only. No vessel name or date of loss has been published.

Also known as Barco das Telhas (Wreck).

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Barco das Telhas: typical dive 55–65 m (180–213 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit55 m65 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 80 m (262 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

38.4299° N, 9.0965° WPublished position for this site.

The dive

This is a technical dive and nothing else. The wreck sits between 55 and 65 m depending on the tide, which puts the whole of it below recreational depth, and gas planning and decompression are the shape of the day rather than an afterthought. Scubago's entry is direct about the reason: the depth alone restricts the site to expert divers.

What waits at the bottom is small — a transport vessel whose cargo was tiles, and the tile remains scattered through the wreckage are what gave the site its name. No vessel name, build date or account of the sinking has been published, so the identification runs the other way round, from the cargo back to the boat. At this depth bottom time is the constraint on everything else.

The wreck

Vessel
Barco das Telhas (unnamed transport vessel)
Type
Small transport vessel carrying a cargo of tiles
Cause
Unknown — no account of how or when she sank has been published
Lies
On the bottom at 55–65 m depending on the tide, tile cargo scattered through the wreckage

Marine life and season

The sources we used don't single out particular species here.

Month-by-month season rating for Barco das Telhas
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
FairFairFairFairGoodGoodGoodPrimePrimePrimeGoodFair

Season follows Sesimbra & the Arrábida: Aug–Oct is the warmest window; sheltered bay sites are diveable all year, but cape-facing sites take Atlantic swell in any month.

Know before you go

  • Depth. The wreck runs 55–65 m depending on the tide, below every recreational limit, and the published guidance restricts it to expert divers.
  • The published depth spans 55–65 m, so gas and decompression have to be planned for the deeper end of that range rather than the shallower.

Sources

  1. Barco das Telhas (Wreck) — Scubago — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide

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