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Overview
Japanese transport beached on 14 November 1942 during the naval battle of Guadalcanal, then bombed and burned out by US aircraft. The 156 m hull lies on her port side perpendicular to Bonegi Beach, with the bow in 5 m of water and the stern dropping to about 55 m — divable as a shore-entry shallow swim or as a deep technical descent into the holds and engine room. Hard corals, gorgonians and brain coral now sheathe the steel; sweetlips, batfish, lionfish, fusiliers and moray eels patrol the wreckage and cleaning stations along the upper deck.
Briefing note
Bow and midships sit in recreational range; the stern requires deep or technical training. Landowner fee paid at the beach. Currents are usually mild but visibility drops sharply during and after heavy rains when Bonegi Creek discharges silt.
What you'll see
5 species curated- year-roundLionfish
- year-roundSweetlips
- year-roundBatfish
- year-roundMoray eel
- year-roundFusiliers
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- high confidenceLionfish
- Last confirmed
- May 2026
- Recent records
- 130 within 10 km
Sources & methodology
How we summarise this
We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.
Sources
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
- Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
- OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
- iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
- WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
- FishBase — FishBase Consortium
- Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
- REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation
The wreck
Ship history- War grave
Freighter · Japan
Hirokawa Maru
- Built
- 1942
- Sunk
- Nov 15, 1942
- Length
- 154 m
- Tonnage
- 6,872
- Diveable depth
- 5–55 m
- How she sank
- Sunk in wartime
Japanese troop transport beached and sunk by US aircraft during the Battle of Guadalcanal. Now known as Bonegi I — accessible from shore, with the bow at 5 m and the deeper stern rolling to 55 m.
Notable features
- bow gun
- intact bridge structure
- abundant coral cover from shore
Vessel histories sourced from the Naval History and Heritage Command (DANFS), NOAA ENC Direct, and editorial research. Bathymetry per GEBCO. See the methodology for limits.
Conditions
| Month | Water | Visibility | Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 28–30 °C | 10–20 m | mild |
| Feb | 28–30 °C | 10–20 m | mild |
| Mar | 28–30 °C | 10–20 m | mild |
| Apr | 28–30 °C | 12–22 m | mild |
| May | 27–29 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Jun | 27–29 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Jul | 26–28 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Aug | 26–28 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Sep | 27–29 °C | 15–25 m | mild |
| Oct | 27–29 °C | 12–22 m | mild |
| Nov | 28–30 °C | 10–20 m | mild |
| Dec | 28–30 °C | 10–20 m | mild |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Next step
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