BADALONA
Why dive here
With 140+ marine species recorded in the area - including dolphins, ocean sunfish (mola mola), octopuses, sea turtles and sperm whales - BADALONA offers some of Al Hoceima's richest wreck diving. Water sits around 16°C.
Badalona isn't your usual wreck dive, mostly because it’s not really a dive at all. This is a surface snorkel, a chance to get right up close to a piece of history without even getting your hair wet if you don’t want to. We think it’s absolutely brilliant for non-divers or families. The tanker, sunk by a German torpedo in 1941, sits just beneath the waves, its massive hull breaking the surface in places. We’ve spent hours here, just floating above, watching the light play on the rusted metal. You can clearly make out the ship’s structure, the deck plates, and even some of the superstructure reaching up. It’s a strange, almost eerie feeling to be so close to something so large that was once a working vessel. What makes Badalona shine, in our opinion, is how nature has reclaimed it. Barnacles cling to every exposed surface, and small fish, mainly damselfish and wrasse, dart in and out of the shadows cast by the wreckage. It’s a protected spot, so even on breezy days, the water tends to stay calm, offering pretty good visibility for surface viewing. Our tip? Go early in the morning before any boat traffic stirs things up; the calm surface makes for incredible reflections off the metal. It’s a completely different experience from swimming over a deeper wreck; you feel the weight of its history right there.
Typical BADALONA Dive Profile
Illustrative profile based on site depth and type. Actual dive profiles vary - always follow your dive computer and training.
Safety Notes
Wreck site - avoid penetration without wreck diving certification. Watch for sharp metal and entanglement hazards.
BADALONA Wreck History
Year Sunk
1941
Vessel Type
tanker
Cause
torpedo
The Badalona was a Spanish tanker built in 1922 by the renowned British shipyard Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson. Owned by the Spanish petroleum monopoly, she spent nearly two decades plying the seas. Her final voyage began in December 1941, during the height of World War II, when she departed Valencia with a destination of Aruba. Despite Spain's official neutrality, her journey was cut short off the coast of Morocco when she was struck by a torpedo and sank.
Today, the remains of the Badalona lie in an astonishingly shallow depth of just one metre. This makes the wreck one of the most accessible pieces of WWII history in the world, easily explorable by snorkelers and divers of all levels. Lying so close to the shore of Al Hoceima, her hull is a permanent feature of the coastal landscape, offering a unique opportunity to witness the scars of war just a few feet from the surface.
Nearest Dive Centres to BADALONA
Dive shops near BADALONA
ESCUELA DE BUCEO BUBBLES SEA
BUCEO CALAHONDA
Buceo Almunecar
Almunecar Dive Center
Buceo La Herradura
DIFFERENT SCUBA SCHOOL
Reviews for BADALONA
Conditions
Ocean conditions, forecast and tides for BADALONA
BADALONA Ocean Conditions
Monthly averages for BADALONA, sourced from NOAA buoy data - nearest station: Open-Meteo grid (35.26, -3.6) (0km away)
August Averages
Sea Temperature
16.4°C
62°F
Air Temperature
26.27°C
79°F
Wind Speed
5 m/s
9.7 knots
Atmospheric Pressure
1014 hPa
Based on 5 years of monitoring data · Data sources: NOAA NDBC
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