A two hub wreck and reef destination on Pernambuco's warm Atlantic coast. Recife is Brazil's shipwreck capital, an offshore park of scuttled tugs and historic steamers in 20 to 30 m for certified divers, while Porto de Galinhas about 60 km south offers reef enclosed natural pools, an easy nearshore reef and deeper wrecks off Serrambi. Water stays around 26 to 28 C year round, with the clearest seas from September to March.
Conditions, highlights, and the resident marine life.
Water and air temperature across the year.
Recife and Porto de Galinhas share one long sandstone and coral reef coast in Pernambuco, northeast Brazil, but they offer two very different dives. Recife is Brazil's wreck capital: the Parque de Naufrágios Artificiais de Pernambuco gathers an estimated 18 tugs and historic steamers a few kilometres off Boa Viagem in about 20 to 30 m, so the headline diving is boat based and suits Advanced Open Water divers, often on nitrox. Porto de Galinhas, around 60 km south in Ipojuca, adds the gentle end: reef enclosed tidal pools (piscinas naturais) reached by jangada raft at low tide, an easy nearshore reef to about 12 m with good night diving, and deeper wrecks off Serrambi such as the 64 m Gonçalo Coelho and the tug Marte. Water is warm all year, roughly 26 to 28 C, so a 3 mm suit is plenty. Visibility is strongly seasonal, 15 to 30 m on the offshore wrecks in the dry September to March window (November often peaks) and dropping toward 10 m in the April to August rains as river runoff clouds the coast. Porto de Galinhas sits north of, and outside, the Costa dos Corais marine protected area. One honest caveat: Recife's urban beaches carry a serious shark bite history, a swimming hazard well away from the offshore dive sites and not a dive attraction.
What makes this dive worth the trip.
22 species you’re likely to encounter on a dive here.
8 signature sites at this destination.
A 17.2 m Danish built steel harbour tug, the pioneer of the artificial park, deliberately scuttled on 10 January 2002 in a coordinated three tug sinking. It sits upright and intact about 7.5 nautical miles off Boa Viagem, the towing winch, funnel and wheelhouse still recognisable under dense colonisation. The classic first Recife wreck dive.
A 26 m, 240 ton harbour tug with a ducted rotary propeller, deliberately sunk on 3 May 2006 about 5 nautical miles off Boa Viagem. It lies intact, heeled roughly 25 degrees to port, with waterline openings cut for easy interior penetration. A second tug, the Virgo (sunk 2017), rests only a few metres away, so one dive covers two wrecks.
An iron hulled paddle steamer built in England in 1866, infamous for the 1887 collision that sank the steamer Bahia with heavy loss of life. Stripped and scuttled outside Recife harbour in 1895, it now lies broken open in a canoe formation, heavily colonised and biologically rich rather than mechanically intact. A 130 year old wreck and a favourite night dive.
A 29.1 m, 270 ton tug that, with the Mercurius, towed the central span during Rio Niterói bridge construction in the 1970s. Decommissioned in 2004 and deliberately sunk on 3 May 2006 into the park's deeper tier about 8 nautical miles offshore, near the Mercurius. A slightly more committing dive rewarded with big schools and dense encrustation.
The postcard site, where sandstone and coral reef lines the beach and encloses crystal tidal pools at low tide, snorkel and jangada territory, while the outer reef face about 200 m out gives easy scuba to roughly 12 m. This is where discovery dives and courses run, with good night dives on the shallow reef ledges.
A genuine accident wreck and the easiest wreck dive on this coast: the gas carrier IGEL broke its shaft in a storm and sank on 29 May 1959 only about 500 m off the central Porto de Galinhas beach. The scattered, encrusted wreckage at around 11 m makes a perfect first wreck or a long, shallow second dive.
The region's marquee deep wreck, a 64 m WWII US Navy landing ship (locally described as an LST) that later supplied Fernando de Noronha, deliberately sunk on 29 December 1999 off Serrambi about 8 nautical miles out. Largely intact with open bow doors, big hold openings and a tilted command tower, it offers well lit, easy penetration. Position is approximate.
A 32.7 m British built Wilson Sons tug scuttled on 13 April 1998 about 12 km off Serrambi as an artificial reef. Intact and multi level, with wheelhouse, engine room and holds to explore; the funnel collapsed around 2008 and the hull is now thickly covered in sponges and corals.
Local dive centers, resorts, and hotels.
Verified dive centers, resorts, and hotels around Recife & Porto de Galinhas will list here — pricing, photos, and direct contact.
