SCUBA Diving Guide: Northern Portugal

Most people who travel to Portugal for scuba diving head straight to the Algarve and its warmer waters. However, that overlooks some of the excellent dive sites that lay elsewhere in the country. Just north of Porto, famous city of the port wines, lay several excellent ship wrecks and reefs, including that rare gem: a Second World War U-Boat in depths even a Open Water (OW) diver can reach.

The nearby area has five rock dives, featuring plenty of fish life. While some have bottoms just a bit over 20 meters, all of them are considered easy recreational dives and suitable for OW divers.

Yet what makes the area special are its ship wrecks. The waters off Porto are home to 9 wrecks within recreational depth limits. These ships range from Danish tug boats to British transports, sinking anywhere from the mid-19th Century to as recently as 1986. The best part are the depths. Some of these wrecks lay in less than 18 meters of water, making them easily within the capabilities of OW divers. Other lay deeper, and are demanding enough that they are for Advanced Open Water (AOW) divers only.

The crowning jewel, however, is the U-1277. This German submarine was of the Type VIIC class, the classic German U-Boat design. The Type VII was the workhorse of the Kreigsmarine during the war. These vessels carried four torpedo tubes forward and one aft., and a maximum crush depth of between 200 and 250 meters.

The U-1277 was commissioned in May 1944 and went on only one patrol in April 1945. Leaving Norway, she spent 44 days at sea. She sank no vessels during this lone patrol, which given the fortunes of the U-Boat fleet by 1945, likely explains how she survived to reach Portuguese waters. On June 3rd, 1945, her crew elected to scuttle her boat and seek refuge in neutral Portugal rather than surrender. Their submarine came to rest off Porto, in 31 meters of water.

The bow of the submarine is missing, and the stern is silted over. However, all torpedo tubes are still visible, as is the conning tower. Like many wrecks, the U-1277 is a magnet for sea life. The hull is sprinkled with white anemones, Small fish and lobsters are attracted to the area, and sometimes very large octopi can be found there.

Arrangements for diving the U-1277 and other northern Portuguese sites are best made through MergulhoMaina:

Tel: +351 919 923 885
http://www.mergulhomania.com/

Sources: www.mergulhomania.com/; uboat.net/boats/u1277.htm