wreck

Log This Dive

MOTILAN

Motilan is the kind of wreck we love. It’s a tug, sitting upright at 36 metres, and while the Baltic usually means cold, dark dives, Motilan often surprises with respectable visibility. Descending, you feel the chill, but then the shape of the tug emerges, a real sense of its working life still clinging to it. The wheelhouse is our favourite part, relatively intact, with the steering mechanism still there, inviting you to imagine the crew. Inside the engine room, penetration is tight but doable for experienced wreck divers, offering a glimpse of the machinery that once powered this vessel. The wreck itself is classified as dangerous, which sounds ominous, but really just means it’s old and fragile. We’ve found the stern deck provides great photo opportunities, with a dense cover of green and brown algae, and tiny scampi darting between the metalwork. It’s a site that rewards multiple dives; you can focus on the external structure on one dive, then explore the internal spaces on another. Current is usually mild here, but thermoclines can be quite pronounced, so a drysuit is definitely our recommendation. We’d suggest going in late spring or early autumn for the best chance of settled conditions and decent visibility.