Antilla Wreck

The Antilla is a German freighter scuttled by her own crew off the northwest coast of Aruba in 1940, after the Netherlands declared war on Germany and the ship's captain chose to sink her rather than let her be seized. Known as the largest shipwreck in the Caribbean, she stretches around 120 metres and rests on her side in Malmok Bay, with a maximum depth of about 16.6 metres, making her a beginner-friendly dive. The hull is broken open in places, allowing divers and snorkelers to swim through sections of the structure, and it has become encrusted with coral and sponges over the decades. Divers here have reported angelfish, frogfish, moray eels, octopus, scorpionfish, sea turtles, snapper, stingrays, and wrasse around the structure. Its shallow, sheltered water makes it accessible to a wide range of experience levels, though the size of the wreck rewards more than one dive to see properly.

Confirmed by our research team, reported by independent divers, or observed nearby via iNaturalist — each entry is labelled with its source.

• ScorpionfishScorpionfishReported here · unconfirmed
• Sea turtleSea turtleReported here · unconfirmed
• Moray eelMoray eelReported here · unconfirmed
• StingrayStingrayReported here · unconfirmed
• Smooth TrunkfishLactophrys triqueterReported here · unconfirmed
• French AngelfishPomacanthus paruReported here · unconfirmed
• Atlantic Sergeant MajorAbudefduf saxatilisReported here · unconfirmed
• Atlantic Blue TangAcanthurus coeruleusReported here · unconfirmed
• Caribbean Bluehead WrasseThalassoma bifasciatumReported here · unconfirmed
• French GruntHaemulon flavolineatumReported here · unconfirmed
• OctopusOctopusReported here · unconfirmed
• FrogfishFrogfishReported here · unconfirmed
• AngelfishAngelfishReported here · unconfirmed
• WrasseWrasseReported here · unconfirmed
• SnapperSnapperReported here · unconfirmed