TORNAMONA - Northumberland & Northeast

The TORNAMONA is a real favourite of ours off the Northumberland coast. Forget your big, intact wrecks; this fishing vessel, which sank after hitting rocks in 1985, is more like a scattered, sprawling scrapyard on the seabed. It’s a jumble of metal plates, twisted beams, and engine parts, all draped in a thick carpet of plumose anemones. We love how the light filters through the kelp forest above, dappling the wreck with shifting patterns. It’s not deep, maybe 15 metres at most on a good tide, making it a cracking dive for extending your bottom time and really poking around. You’ll spend your dive weaving through the debris, spotting colourful nudibranchs clinging to the metal, and often finding crabs scuttling amongst the plates. The sheer volume of plumose anemones is what really makes it, creating this soft, white, almost furry landscape over the wreck. We’d suggest diving it on a neap tide for the best visibility, which can swing wildly here. It’s a site that rewards slow exploration, looking closely at the smaller details rather than expecting grand structures. If you’re into critter hunting and seeing how nature reclaims man-made objects, the TORNAMONA delivers.

Location

Northumberland & Northeast, United Kingdom, Mediterranean & Europe

Coordinates

54.316833, -5.526333

Type

wreck

Maximum Depth

0m

Marine Protected Area: Killard