Angelika

Italy · wreck · intermediate

12–20 mintermediateAOWboat entry

Angelika

A 70 m Greek freighter broken in two on the Marmorata shoal, none of it deeper than about 20 m.

wreckboat

Max depth12–20 m

Required levelintermediate

Entry typeboat

Visibilitynot sourced

The dive

The Angelika was a Greek cargo motorship of about 70 m, built in 1967, carrying roughly 4,000 tonnes of potassium chloride from Barcelona to Marghera. On 26 September 1982 a gale put her onto rock off Santa Teresa Gallura. Salvage failed, the hull was decontaminated, and a second gale broke her apart before she could be scuttled under control. She lies on the Secca della Marmorata, off Isola La Marmorata east of Punta Falcone. That is the Santa Teresa Gallura coast, not the La Maddalena archipelago this pin is filed under, and it matters because the two are under different authorities.

Everything is between roughly 12 and 20 m on a mostly rocky bottom, which is why Blu Dive Center in Santa Teresa describes it as the only wreck in northern Sardinia worth diving at recreational depth. The ship is in two pieces. The bow section keeps its cargo deck and its service compartments, and is straightforward to enter; the stern lies on its side and shows the engine, the three-bladed propeller and winches that are still complete. A porthole in the stern castle lets a shaft of daylight into the hull. The heavy ropes lying across the wreck are not salvage rigging, they were left behind by a television crew that filmed there.

The wreck sits inside the marine protected area Capo Testa - Punta Falcone, established by decree on 17 May 2018, and La Marmorata is one of the zone B areas named in the AMP's provisional disciplinare. The regime, more than the depth, is what shapes a day here: no night diving anywhere in the AMP, sunrise to sunset only, prior authorisation from the managing body, a second-level certificate as the legal minimum, no solo diving, and the whole dive inside a 50 m radius of the mooring or the surface marker. Guided dives can only be sold by centres the AMP has authorised, and those must have had their legal seat in the comune of Santa Teresa Gallura when the decree came into force.

Three-bladed propeller, engine and intact winches on the stern section
Bow section with cargo deck and service compartments that can be entered
Porthole in the stern castle that throws daylight into the hull
The whole wreck between about 12 and 20 m, so bottom time rather than depth is the limit

Please note before you go

Penetration into a hull broken by storms: plating is twisted and parts of the structure are not stable
Old ropes left across the wreck by a film crew, an entanglement risk inside and around the sections
Fully exposed to the maestrale; in a northwesterly the shoal is not workable
Marine protected area rules are enforced: no night diving, sunrise to sunset only, and no diving without the AMP authorisation

Access & rules

Mandatory requirements

Certification required

AOW

Getting there

Boat only, about three nautical miles from the Blu Dive Center base at Santa Teresa Gallura. The wreck lies on the Secca della Marmorata, off Isola La Marmorata, on the north coast of Gallura east of Punta Falcone. The catalogue files this pin under La Maddalena; the sources place it at Santa Teresa Gallura, inside the Capo Testa - Punta Falcone marine protected area, and the pin at 41.2588, 9.2397 sits just northeast of the Marmorata islets, which is consistent with the shoal.

Operator

Access to the site runs through a local operator.

Restrictions

Inside the AMP Capo Testa - Punta Falcone. Diving in zones B, Bs and C requires authorisation from the managing body and a secretarial fee. No night diving at all. Sunrise to sunset only. Minimum second-level certificate. Maximum six divers in the water per site at any one time. The dive must stay within 50 m of the vertical of the mooring point or the surface marker. Solo diving, and diving without first-aid-trained support, are not authorised.

Rules and permits

Marine protected area Capo Testa - Punta Falcone, decree of 17 May 2018; the operating rules are in the provisional disciplinare. Guided dives and dive training may only be run by centres authorised by the managing body whose legal seat was already in the Comune di Santa Teresa Gallura when the decree took effect, with at most one guide per six divers, two guides and twelve divers per guided dive, and two boats per site. The code of conduct forbids contact with the bottom, feeding, and the removal of any geological, biological or archaeological material, and requires divers to report wrecks, dangerous material and abandoned fishing gear without moving them. Spearfishing gear may not be carried during a dive.

Season

These months follow from the water temperature reported by the dated trip report, about 13 C in January to March against about 25 C in July to September, and from the site's exposure to the maestrale rather than from any published operator season. No source we read states a diving season for the wreck, so treat the range as an inference from temperature and wind, not as an operator's calendar.

Conditions

Visibilitynot sourced

Currentmoderate

Surgenot sourced

WaterSalt water

Depth range12–20 m

Environmentwreck

Coralnot sourced

Crowdsnot sourced

A short boat run of about three nautical miles from Santa Teresa Gallura onto an exposed shoal, then a shallow wreck dive in 12 to 20 m over rock. Water runs from about 13 C between January and March to about 25 C between July and September. Current is usually absent to moderate; the Bocche di Bonifacio can move water, and a northwesterly closes the site outright.

On current: Blu Dive Center, which runs the site from Santa Teresa, grades the current from absent to moderate, and the dated trip report on duecentobar.it also describes moderate current with adequate visibility. Plan for the moderate end. In practice what cancels this dive is not current but wind: the site is open to the maestrale, and divemania.it lists exposure to the northwesterly as the condition that decides whether it is workable. Sources also disagree on the date of the loss, 26 September 1982 in the detailed account against a bare 1981 elsewhere; the 1982 account is the one that carries cargo, route and salvage detail.

Best months: May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct

Questions & answers

How deep is the Angelika wreck?

The whole wreck lies between about 12 and 20 metres on a mostly rocky bottom, which is unusually shallow for a ship of this size. Blu Dive Center gives 12 to 20 m and the dated dive report agrees. That means no-stop time, not depth, is what ends the dive.

Where is the Angelika, and is it really at La Maddalena?

No. The wreck lies on the Secca della Marmorata, off Isola La Marmorata on the Gallura coast east of Punta Falcone, and is dived from Santa Teresa Gallura, roughly three nautical miles from the port. It sits inside the marine protected area Capo Testa - Punta Falcone, not in the La Maddalena archipelago, and the two are under different authorities with different rules.

Do I need a permit to dive the Angelika?

Yes. The wreck is inside the AMP Capo Testa - Punta Falcone, where diving requires authorisation from the managing body and payment of a secretarial fee. Guided dives can only be sold by centres the AMP has authorised, and those centres must have had their legal seat in the Comune di Santa Teresa Gallura when the 2018 decree took effect.

Can you dive the Angelika at night?

No. The AMP's disciplinare bans night diving, night freediving and night guided underwater visits anywhere in the protected area. Dives run from sunrise to sunset only. Solo diving is also not authorised, and there must be someone with first-aid training in support even when a private boat is used.

Is the Angelika a good first wreck dive?

It is a reasonable one. The depth band is shallow, the layout is legible with a bow section and a stern section, and Blu Dive Center grades the site easy and uses it as a wreck-training site. The caveats are real though: the hull is corroded and broken by storms, some plating is unstable, and old ropes lie across the structure.

What will I see on the Angelika?

The stern section, lying on its side, shows the engine, a three-bladed propeller and winches that are still complete; the bow keeps its cargo deck and service compartments and can be entered. A porthole in the stern castle throws daylight into the hull. Occurrence records around the site include brown grouper, corb, white seabream and scorpionfish, the sort of fish that use a wreck as structure.

When is the best time to dive the Angelika?

Late spring to autumn is the sensible window. Water runs from about 13 C between January and March to about 25 C between July and September, and the shoal is fully exposed to the maestrale, so a northwesterly closes it whatever the month. No operator we read publishes a formal season, so treat this as an inference from temperature and wind rather than a fixed calendar.

Life recorded at Angelika

18 species within 2.28 km · OBIS

Gobius cobitisrare · 1 records

Sciaena umbrarare · 1 records

Epinephelus marginatusrare · 1 records

Diplodus sargusrare · 1 records

Lithognathus mormyrusrare · 1 records

Tripterygion melanurusrare · 1 records

All 18 species recorded in this area

Species	How often	Records
Gobius cobitis	rare	1
Sciaena umbra	rare	1
Epinephelus marginatus	rare	1
Diplodus sargus	rare	1
Lithognathus mormyrus	rare	1
Tripterygion melanurus	rare	1
Scorpaena porcus	rare	1
Haliotis tuberculata	rare	1
Lepidopleurus cajetanus	rare	1
Mactra stultorum	rare	1
Umbraculum umbraculum	rare	1
Callista chione	rare	1
Hippocampus guttulatus	rare	1
Acanthocardia tuberculata	rare	1
Peronaea planata	rare	1
Rhyssoplax olivacea	rare	1
Ophioderma longicaudum	rare	1
Ebenomitra ebenus	rare	1