Vis · Croatia · Wreck
Ursus
A gun on the bow under purple and yellow gorgonians
Area photo: Borut Furlan · CC BY-SA 4.0
A 35-metre wreck on the sand off the north side of Vis, sitting between 45 and 65 metres with a gun still on the bow and purple and yellow gorgonians covering the hull. The depth puts the site firmly in technical territory rather than on an ordinary Vis wreck day.
Also known as Ursus Wreck.
Where it is and how deep
43.0724° N, 16.2645° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
Ursus lies on a sandy bottom between 45 and 65 metres, so it is a decompression dive from the moment it is planned, with the profile and the gas fixed before anyone leaves the boat. The hull is 35 metres long, short enough to cover in a single pass if the team keeps moving and does not spend its bottom time getting organised on the descent.
The bow carries a cannon, and it is the feature the site is known for. Over it and along the length of the hull the metal is covered in purple and yellow gorgonians, the deep-water fans that do well in the cool, clean water around the island. Lights matter here more than usual: at this depth the colour the gorgonians actually hold only appears when someone puts a beam on them. Nothing is published about the ship herself, so the gun and the fans are what the dive is.
The wreck
- Vessel
- Ursus
- Type
- Unidentified vessel with a gun on the bow
- Length
- 35 m (115 ft)
- Cause
- Not recorded in the published sources
- Lies
- On a sandy bottom at 45 to 65 m, with a cannon on the bow
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Off-season | Off-season | Off-season | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Off-season | Off-season |
Season follows Vis: Diving runs May to October; the surface reaches 22–25 °C in July and August, and visibility is most reliable from late June to early October.
Know before you go
- The wreck sits at 45 to 65 m, deep enough that narcosis and gas management, not the wreck itself, set the limits of the dive.
- The hull rests on sand, and silt lifted off the bottom around it drifts slowly at this depth, so the last diver along the wreck sees the least of it.
Sources
- Ursus (Wreck) - Scubago — Scubago
More dive sites in Vis
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Airframe on sand at 65 to 72 m, visibility to 40 m
Wreck
Hull and wings at 40 m, tail 100 m away at 52 m
Wall
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Cave & cavern
Daylight on a green stone, at 10 m and 30 m
Reef
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Pinnacle
Plateau at 6 m, then a vertical wall past 50 m
Wall
A 70 m long cavern starting at 28 m
Cave & cavern
A 50 m swim-through with an air pocket at the end
Similar dives elsewhere
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