wreck

Log This Dive

Le CATALINA

The Catalina, a PBY-5A seaplane, is one of our favourite dives in the Calanques, and it’s surprisingly intact for a wreck with a story. It went down in 1944, shot by the Germans, and now rests on a sandy bottom, broken but still recognisably a plane. We love dropping onto the sandy patch and seeing the dark outline emerge, the wings spread out, the tail section surprisingly upright. You can spend a good chunk of a dive finning around it, peeking into the cockpit area where the gauges are still visible, or checking out the gun turrets. Schools of damselfish shimmer around the fuselage, and we’ve often spotted moray eels tucked into the bomb bay or under the wings. The Mediterranean nudibranchs here are particularly colourful, little pops of orange and purple against the metal. It’s not a deep dive, around 25-30 metres, which means decent bottom time and good light penetration on a sunny day. We’d suggest going in the morning before the boat traffic picks up; it makes for a much calmer experience. For divers who appreciate history and wrecks that still tell a tale, the Catalina is a real treat.