Grenada · Caribbean
Bianca C Wreck
Dry-season months are commonly preferred for wreck and reef combinations.
The Bianca C is a 180m Italian cruise liner that sank off Grenada in 1961 — known as the 'Titanic of the Caribbean,' she sits in 30–50m and is one of the great big-wreck dives in the region. Grenada's broader diving includes the underwater sculpture park.
Good season
Year-round; January–April calmest. Hurricane risk September–November.
Trip duration
5–7 nights.
Dive style
Deep wreck diving with current; reef and sculpture park as easier dives.
Dive level
Advanced + 50 dives for the Bianca C; Open Water for sculpture park.
Reef health
What you’ll actually findThis reef is losing coral faster than it's recovering. If it's on your list, go sooner — and manage expectations on coral colour.
Coral reef health
How is this calculated?On current trend, no live coral by ~2044. Losing about 1.1% cover per year — roughly 20 years of reef left to see if nothing changes.
Heat stress right now
No abnormal heat right now. Corals stay coloured.
NOAA Coral Reef Watch · updated May 2026 · 0 °C-week heat dose
What to expect on a dive
Bianca C wreck is the headline. Surrounding reef shows post-bleaching thinning.
Sources, methodology, and the raw numbers
Raw observed numbers
- Coral cover: 22% (survey Sep 2024, AGRRA reef survey protocol)
- Bleached: 20%
- Recent mortality: 8%
- Caribbean post-2023 — observed condition reflects the declining regional pattern.
Raw thermal numbers
- NOAA CRW alert level: No stress
- Degree Heating Weeks: 0 °C-wk
- SST anomaly: +0.7 °C
How we summarise this
Observed coral cover, bleaching, and mortality come from named in-situ surveys with a stated date and method — they describe one snapshot of one reef and do not extrapolate to neighbouring sites. Current thermal stress is satellite-derived from NOAA Coral Reef Watch at ~5 km resolution; it indicates risk, not observed coral damage. We deliberately separate observed condition, current thermal stress, and projection — and we never publish a projection without a documented model and uncertainty.
Sources
- Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment — AGRRA Program / Perry Institute for Marine Science
- NOAA Coral Reef Watch — U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- AIMS Long-Term Monitoring Program — Australian Institute of Marine Science
- Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network — GCRMN / ICRI
- NOAA National Coral Reef Monitoring Program — NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program
- Reef Check — Reef Check Foundation
- NOAA CoastWatch / OceanWatch — NOAA NESDIS / STAR
- Allen Coral Atlas — Arizona State University Center for Global Discovery and Conservation Science
- Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority — Australian Government
- International Coral Reef Initiative — ICRI Secretariat
- Reef Life Survey — Reef Life Survey Foundation
- NASA PO.DAAC — NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory / Caltech
- Copernicus Marine Service — Mercator Ocean International for the European Union
- NASA Ocean Color (OB.DAAC) — NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Ocean Biology Processing Group
- Argo float network — International Argo Program / UCSD
- CoralWatch — University of Queensland
- IMOS / AODN — Integrated Marine Observing System / Australian Ocean Data Network
- WRI Reefs at Risk Revisited — World Resources Institute
- Ocean Health Index — OHI partnership (Conservation International + UCSB + NCEAS)
- IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere (SROCC) — Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
- GOA-ON — Global Ocean Acidification Observing Network — GOA-ON Secretariat + IOC-UNESCO
- HAEDAT — Harmful Algae Event Database — IOC-UNESCO Intergovernmental Panel on Harmful Algal Blooms
- NCEI Marine Microplastics — NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information
Reef condition changes year to year. If you visit, consider supporting responsible-travel and conservation operators on the ground.
Pressure on this reef
Protection · fishing · what you can doProtected-area status
Multi-use MPAInside a designated MPA that permits regulated fishing and other uses. Worth checking which zones at this location are no-take.
Fishing pressure
Moderate fishing pressureDominant pressures
- cruise impact
- SCTLD
- fishing
1 Green Fins-verified operator known at this location.
What you can do
Smaller Eastern Caribbean islands have modest MPA frameworks. Cruise-port locations bear concentrated impact.
Protection status sourced from Protected Planet / WDPA and refined with Marine Protection Atlas. Fishing pressure proxy is Global Fishing Watch AIS data. See the methodology for what these sources can and can’t prove.
Dive sites here
2 curated
Bianca C
180-meter Italian Costa Line cruise liner that caught fire and exploded in her boiler room on October 22, 1961 while anchored off St. George…
Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park
The world's first underwater sculpture park, opened in May 2006 by British sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor in 5–8 m of water inside the Molin…
Gear
What to bringSite-specific add-ons
Some dive sites here call for extra gear. Check the individual site page for full context.
- Wide-angle camera or GoPro — The sculptures are big — Vicissitudes spans ~3 m across — and the appeal is composition with figures, not macro. Wide-angle in shallow sunlit water is the move. · Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park
- Reef-safe sunscreen — MPA rules and surface-interval snorkeling around the buoys; standard sunscreens are discouraged. · Molinere Underwater Sculpture Park
What divers say
“Swimming over the Bianca C's bow at 30m as schools of jacks pour past — one of the best wrecks I've dived anywhere.”