Croatia's outermost inhabited island — a Yugoslav military zone closed to foreign visitors until 1989 — Vis holds the Adriatic's densest wreck diving: a trimix-depth B-17G Flying Fortress, the protected B-24 'Tulsamerican', two big steamships, and amphora fields up to 2,500 years old, in visibility that regularly exceeds 30 m.
Destination info
Conditions, highlights, and the resident marine life.
Conditions
Water and air temperature across the year.
WaterAirDryShoulderWet
Description
Vis is Croatia's outermost inhabited Adriatic island, a Yugoslav naval base closed to foreign visitors until 1989 — an isolation that left both the island and its seabed unusually well preserved. Dive centres in Komiža and Vis town now serve the densest concentration of wreck diving in the Adriatic: the B-17G Flying Fortress ditched on 6 November 1944, sitting upright and nearly intact on sand at 72 m (a trimix-grade technical dive); the protected B-24 Liberator 'Tulsamerican' at 38–52 m, whose 2017 and 2020 archaeological expeditions returned two missing American airmen home; the 105 m Greek steamer Vassilios T. (1939) lying on its port side from 22 to 55 m; and the beginner-friendly steamship Teti (1930), whose wreckage starts around 10 m. Around the archipelago, amphora fields at the islets of Krava and Host mark Greek and Roman shipwrecks up to roughly 2,500 years old — among the oldest known in the Adriatic — divable only with registered centres under Croatia's cultural-heritage rules. Mediterranean reef life fills out the non-wreck diving: dusky groupers and amberjack around the wrecks in autumn, large congers and forkbeards in the hulls, spiny lobsters in the crevices, and red gorgonian fans on the deeper offshore Sika ridges. Boat days often bundle the famous Blue Cave on neighbouring Biševo. The season runs May to October with water from about 18 °C to 26 °C; pronounced thermoclines and upwellings keep depth temperatures cool even in high summer.
Highlights
What makes this dive worth the trip.
The B-17G Flying Fortress (serial 44-6630) ditched off Vis on 6 November 1944 rests upright and nearly intact at 70–72 m. Its co-pilot, 25-year-old 2nd Lt. Ernest Vienneau, went down with the aircraft; a Lund University–led recovery for the US DPAA — technical divers working 25-minute windows at 70 m — recovered and identified his remains, and he received a full military burial in his Maine hometown in 2021, 77 years after the crash.
The B-24 Liberator 'Tulsamerican' — the last B-24 built at the Douglas factory in Tulsa, paid for by its own workers — ditched off Vis on 17 December 1944; seven crew were rescued, three were lost. A 2017 recovery expedition by the US Department of Defense, the Croatian Navy and underwater archaeologists recovered human remains later identified by DNA (a wedding ring was the first clue, as only one missing airman was married); the story became the PBS NOVA film 'Last B-24'.
The Vassilios T., a 105 m Greek cargo steamer lost on 19 March 1939, is one of the largest shipwrecks in the Adriatic. It lies on its port side off Cape Stupišće, essentially intact, from 22 m at the bow rail to about 53–55 m at the seabed — a wreck that spans the full recreational-to-technical range in a single dive.
Marine life
17 species you’re likely to encounter on a dive here.
Dive sites
6 signature sites at this destination.
B-24 Liberator 'Tulsamerican'
The last B-24 built at the Douglas factory in Tulsa, Oklahoma, ditched off Vis's southern coast on 17 December 1944 after battle damage; seven crew were rescued by fishermen and partisans, three were lost. Discovered in 2010 and identified as the Tulsamerican, the wreck lies broken into sections with engines, wings and tail still recognisable, the main section at around 38–40 m and the tail at 52 m (technical divers only). It is a protected cultural-heritage site and a war grave — remains of two of the three lost airmen have never been recovered — so it is dived respectfully, without penetration, through licensed centres.
38–52 madvancedDay boatLightVisibility 20–40 m
Vassilios T.
A 105 m Greek cargo steamship that struck the coast near Cape Stupišće in a storm on 19 March 1939 while carrying coal from Wales toward Venice. One of the largest and most intact shipwrecks in the Adriatic, it lies on its port side with the bow section starting around 22 m, the propeller near 45 m and the hull touching bottom at 53–55 m. Advanced recreational divers tour the upper hull and deck; the engine room and deepest sections are technical territory. Large, well-camouflaged red scorpionfish are a signature of the wreck.
22–55 madvancedDay boatLightVisibility 15–30 m
Teti
A 64 m cargo steamship that hit the islet of Mali Barjak off Komiža on 23 May 1930; local fishermen saved the entire crew. The most accessible wreck on Vis: broken upper wreckage sits on a rocky shelf from about 8–10 m and the hull steps down a gentle slope to sand at roughly 34–38 m (sources quote the maximum between 31 and 38 m), making it a classic first wreck and first deep dive. So colonised by fish that local guides describe it as a working reef — large conger eels habituated to divers, morays, and forkbeards gathered in the shaded hull spaces.
10–38 mbeginnerDay boatLightVisibility 10–25 m
Krava Islet Amphora Field
Scattered, broken amphorae at 35–37 m mark where an ancient Greek ship sank roughly 2,500 years ago — one of the oldest known shipwrecks in the entire Adriatic. Surveyed by archaeologists decades ago, the site remains a popular dive, but only with a Croatia-registered dive centre and a qualified guide; everything stays on the bottom (an ancient jug recovered in 2021 went to archaeologists, and underwater finds are property of the Republic of Croatia). The depth, right at the edge of recreational limits, keeps bottom time short.
35–37 madvancedDay boatLightVisibility 20–30 m
Sika Reefs (Sika 3 & Sika 6)
A chain of offshore rocky ridges ('sika' is local dialect for reef) numbered by the Komiža dive centres. Sika 3 begins at just 3 m and suits all levels; Sika 6's outer pinnacle carries one of Vis's biggest red gorgonian colonies, with lower walls dropping to nearly 60 m. Between them they show the non-wreck side of Vis — sponge- and bryozoan-covered walls, swallowtail seaperch clouding the drop-offs, morays and lobsters in the crevices, and cuttlefish and nudibranchs for photographers.
3–60 mintermediateDay boatModerateVisibility 20–40 m
B-17G Flying Fortress
A four-engine American heavy bomber ditched on 6 November 1944 after taking flak damage on a mission flown out of Amendola, Italy — its first and last combat sortie. The pilot put it down on the water near Rukavac on Vis's southeast coast; it floated long enough for the surviving crew to be rescued, then sank mostly intact. It now sits upright on sand at 65–72 m, wings and engines in place — rated among the best-preserved WWII aircraft wrecks in the world. This is a technical dive well beyond recreational limits: trimix certification, staged decompression and calm weather are required, and dives are run only through local technical centres.
65–72 madvancedDay boatLightVisibility 20–40 m
Where to dive & stay
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