Home Scuba Diving New Artificial Reef Getting Started Off Baja California

New Artificial Reef Getting Started Off Baja California

New Artificial Reef Getting Started Off Baja California (Photo credit Frontera Ensenada TV)
New Artificial Reef Getting Started Off Baja California (Photo credit Frontera Ensenada TV)

Have diving Baja California on your bucket list? Well, the area now has a new attraction.

A decommissioned Mexican Navy patrol ship was sunk recently off the coast of Baja California to set up an artificial reef.

Explosives were used to scuttle the 77-meter/253-foot URIBE 121 in El Descanso Bay off Rosarito Beach. The ship settled 29 meters/95 feet on the ocean floor, according to local TV channel Frontera Ensenada.

The URIBE 121 is the first of three ships planned for a ship cemetery zone that will be part of Rosarito Underwater Park, the only park of its type at the national level.

Organizers hope the new reef will help jump-start the local economy, with up to 40,000 local and foreign divers expected to visit the site the first year alone, bringing in up to 50 million pesos/US$3 million per year in tourism money.

Check out a video of the sinking (in Spanish) below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur5H-Wur0xU?