Scuba diving in Capraia - Airplane wreck sea shoal

Type of scuba diving: sea shoal
Minimum licence required: advanced
Depth: min 25 m, max 50 m

The mooring point where your scuba diving starts is opposite the lighthouse in Capraia. If you swim right down to the bottom you will notice the sea bed is smooth, at a depth of -25 metres. Two huge rocks mean that where you are you are where the wall plunges right down to a depth of over -50 metres.

If you swim along the southern part of the wall you will see the plane wreck, what is left of the Arado Ar 196 A-3 seaplane that dates back to World War II. Where the wreck now lies isn't actually where it went down but rather, where it was later entangled and pulled by a fishing net. The central part with its two seats in the cockpit can still be clearly seen while the engine is facing downwards and along with the wings is entangled in the net. 

For safety reasons you can only swim down to a maximum depth of 40 metres if you wish to visit the wreck.

In actual fact, the uniqueness of this area for going scuba diving is in part thanks to what is left of the plane wreck and in part due to the beauty of the wall that is enhanced by the typical organisms of the coral world like the Lithophyllum stictaeforme, Mesophyllum alternans, russet coloured sea weed, different types of Peyssonnella, the Flabellia petiolata and Halimeda tuna green sea weed, thesponges (Aplysina cavernicola, Axinella spp.) and the bryozoans(Reteporella spp., Myriapora truncata, Pentapora fascialis. 

The wall is in fact very rich in benthonic organisms but it also gives you the chance to see pelagic fish, groupers and shellfish.

We suggest only expert scuba divers go scuba diving in this area because the possibility of coming across strong currents at the top of the the shoal is high and you might be forced to swim further down into the blue water.

The passage on scuba diving in this area is taken from the leaflet entitled "The Hidden Archipelago. Scuba diving routes in the National Tuscan Archipelago"