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Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Shaab Rumi location page.
Overview
Remains of Jacques Cousteau's 1963 underwater habitat experiment, set 100 m inside the Shaab Rumi lagoon entrance. The Starfish House and Deep Cabin were removed after the 30-day mission, but the urchin-shaped sub hangar still stands at 10 m — divers can swim up through its grated floor into the original air pocket. Nearby sit the encrusted tool shed, fish cages, and the shark cage at 27 m, all draped in soft coral and sponge growth. Featured in Cousteau's Oscar-winning documentary 'World Without Sun.'
Briefing note
Historical site — do not touch, lift, or remove any artifacts. The air inside the hangar is original from 1963 and not breathable for sustained surface intervals; surface only briefly to look around, then return to your regulator. The Conshelf is usually paired with the Shaab Rumi South Plateau as a single liveaboard day.
What you'll see
6 species curated- year-roundAnthias
- year-roundSoft coral overgrowth
- year-roundGlassfish
- year-roundLionfish
- year-roundBluestriped snapper
- year-roundGrey reef shark
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- high confidenceAnthias
- 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 We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.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- Underwater cultural heritage
Research vessel · France
Conshelf II (Précontinent II)
- Built
- 1963
- Sunk
- Sep 1, 1963
- Length
- 14 m
- Diveable depth
- 10–30 m
- How she sank
- Scuttled / disposed
Jacques Cousteau's underwater living experiment — a starfish-shaped habitat where six aquanauts lived on the reef for 30 days in 1963. Most of the structures were left behind and are now divable.
Notable features
- onion-shaped fish-cage
- shark-cage frame
- tool-shed module
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 | 24–26 °C | 25–35 m | mild |
| Feb | 24–26 °C | 25–40 m | mild |
| Mar | 25–27 °C | 25–40 m | mild |
| Apr | 26–28 °C | 25–40 m | mild |
| May | 27–29 °C | 25–40 m | mild |
| Jun | 29–31 °C | 20–35 m | mild |
| Jul | 30–32 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Aug | 30–33 °C | 20–30 m | mild |
| Sep | 29–31 °C | 20–35 m | mild |
| Oct | 27–29 °C | 25–40 m | mild |
| Nov | 26–28 °C | 25–40 m | mild |
| Dec | 25–27 °C | 25–35 m | mild |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Gear for this site
Beyond the basic kit- Dive light — Inside the hangar the air pocket and grated floor are easier to navigate with a focused beam; the tool shed interior is also dim.
Next step
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