Sète & Frontignan · France · Wreck
Le Planier
A 1905 trader broken in two on sand at 18 m
Area photo: Christian Ferrer · CC BY 4.0
A small coastal trader that sank off Sète on 3 March 1905 after a collision, now on sand at 18 m and broken into two sections about 10 m apart. She was about 25 m long, so the whole wreck fits comfortably into one dive. The plates carry sponges and jewel anemones, and the structure shelters octopus, conger eels, nudibranchs and lobsters.
Where it is and how deep
43.3975° N, 3.7291° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The wreck lies on sand at 18 m and the descent puts you onto one of her two sections. At about 25 m long overall, split into halves roughly 10 m apart, she is small enough to work end to end and back with time in hand, and the open sand between the pieces makes the crossing obvious even when the light is flat. Take a bearing on the way over and the return is straightforward.
Then slow down and read the structure. The plates are covered in colourful sponges and jewel anemones, and the wreck works as shelter for everything around it: octopus in the openings, conger eels in the deeper recesses, nudibranchs on the growth and lobsters tucked underneath. A torch is worth carrying, since it puts the colour back at 18 m and reaches into the gaps. The interest is all on the outside of the two broken sections, which is as much as a 25 m hull split in half has to offer.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Le Planier
- Type
- Coastal trader
- Length
- 25 m (82 ft)
- Sunk
- 1905
- Cause
- Sank after a collision off Sète
- Lies
- On sand at 18 m, broken into two sections about 10 m apart
The dive school's catalogue records her as a small coastal trader, lost off Sète on 3 March 1905 after a collision. What is left is about 25 m of vessel, broken into two sections some 10 m apart on sand at 18 m, close enough to swim between and shallow enough that the whole wreck is a single dive rather than a series of them.
Marine life and season
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Nudibranchs
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Fair | Fair |
Season follows Sète & Frontignan: The sea averages about 12 °C in February against 22 °C in August and stays above 20 °C from June to October; cuttlefish return to the coast in April, and wind can close the exposed sites.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Planier wreck off Sète?+
She lies on sand at 18 m, broken into two sections about 10 m apart. It is a dive for someone comfortable at that depth rather than a first open-water dive, and a torch helps with the colour and with the gaps in the structure.
Sources
- Le planier - Scubago — Scubago / École de Plongée Sétoise
More dive sites in Sète & Frontignan
Lagoon
The deepest point of the Étang de Thau, at 32 m
Reef
Shallow slabs at 7 m, a site for navigation practice
Artificial reef
Three dumped rock mounds on a bottom of 14 m
Reef
Flat slabs to 10 m on a little-dived, exposed stretch
Two artillery pieces on a sand-and-rock bottom
Similar dives elsewhere
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A small wreck at 22 m reached over rock clusters full of macro
A shot-down jet fighter scattered over 50 by 50 m at 19 m
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