St. Thomas · U.S. Virgin Islands · Wreck · Artificial reef
Miss Opportunity
A former hospital ship and office complex lying on her side
Area photo: Becky A. Dayhuff, Environmental Educator · Public domain
The Miss Opportunity is a wreck off St. Thomas with an unusual past: she served as a hospital ship and then as an office complex before she went to the bottom. Sunk as an artificial reef in 1985, she broke wide open when she hit the seabed, and the wreck is easily penetrated.
Where it is and how deep
No published position for this site — the map shows St. Thomas and its other sites; operators know the mooring.
The dive
The ship lies on her side in just over 27 m (90 ft) of water, and divers reach her at 12 m (40 ft), the shallowest point of the wreck. The dive works between those two depths along the hull of the former hospital ship.
The hull split open on impact, so the inside of the ship is easy to reach, with multiple decks to explore. Sharks, moray eels and huge groupers hide in the wreckage, and coral has been slowly coating the steel since the sinking.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Miss Opportunity
- Type
- Former hospital ship
- Sunk
- 1985
- Cause
- Deliberately sunk as an artificial reef
- Lies
- On her side in just over 27 m (90 ft), reached at 12 m (40 ft)
Marine life and season
- Groupers
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Prime | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good |
Season follows St. Thomas: Boats leave daily; June brings resting sharks to the Navy Barges, and May to November is the rainy season.
Dive videos
Goliath in Wonderland. Dive into the bizarre wreck of The Miss Opportunity. · CruiseNautic on YouTube
Sources
- AAdivers dive sites — AA Divers
More dive sites in St. Thomas
Wall
Stingrays and eagle rays cruising a multi-level reef wall
Wreck
Intact engines on a shipping vessel broken into three pieces
A canyon with almost vertical walls on the north side
Reef
A series of swim-throughs cut through the rock
Pinnacle
Lots of barracudas around rocks in the middle of the cut
Reef
Huge barrel sponges on terraced rock groupings
Similar dives elsewhere
A 1944 US Navy minesweeper, split in two at 26 metres
Three swim-throughs, and sometimes 15 to 20 groupers inside
Stairwells, cabins and an intact mess table at 12 to 33 m
A hull that was placed rather than lost, upright at 25 m