Diving

ISTRIA
The picturesque and mysterious beauty of the Istrian
peninsula and its shores does not end where the sea begins;
indeed, the underwater world surrounding it is equally
spectacular.
Waiting for divers in these waters are numerous wrecks –
passenger ships, merchant and cargo ships, torpedo boats
and submarines. The majority of them were sunk during
WW1 and WW2 and lie within the boundaries of recreational
diving, i.e. at a depth of down to 40 m.
When entering the deep blue one first observes the almost
imperceptible silhouette of the wreck, obscured by shoals of
fish. Only when the diver approaches closer does it become
clear that in the course of decades these sunken skips
have become diverse and colourful artificial reefs teeming
with underwater life. Some parts of certain wrecks can be
entered and their interior viewed.
Among the best known wrecks of the northern Adriatic is undoubtedly
the passenger ship Baron Gautsch, lying immediately before Rovinj,
a location where about ten diving centres are operating. This Austro-
Hungarian passenger ship met its doom in a minefield in 1914, taking
with it many innocent lives to the bottom of the sea. Its final voyage,
between Dalmatia and Trieste, came to a tragic end in the waters west
of the Brijuni islands in a freshly laid minefield designed to defend the
naval port of Pula, by the Austro-Hungarian mine-laying vessel Basilisk.
The vessel is 84.5 m long and with a beam of 11.6 m. Powered by three
steam engines with a total output of 4600 hp it had a maximum speed
of 17 knots. It is located 6 nm SW of the lighthouse Sveti Ivan na pučini
at a depth of from 28 to 40 m. The upper deck is reached at 28 m while
the lower lies at 42 m. The lower sections of the ship have not yet been
Brijuni
Baron Gautsch
fully researched, but it is known that many divers illegally searching for
precious items and souvenirs have significantly devastated the wreck.
Today, the remains of the Baron Gautsch are under the protection of the
Ministry of Culture, and diving is possible only if organized by a licensed
diving centre.
Free shoals in the clear waters of
Croatia’s underwater world
∆
John Dory – submarine world of the
Brijuni National Park
∆
Croatian National Tourist Board
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