The picturesque stone village of Limeni, at the rocky shores of the Messenian Gulf, is in the Mani Peninsula of the Peloponnese, in Greece.
In Limeni lies an ancient Roman shipwreck from 100 BC, very close to the rocky coast and in very shallow and characteristically clear waters of the rocky coastline. There, it is easy for anyone to explore it, even from the surface. The wreck has become an artificial reef, hosting a lot of marine life and fishes, like groupers and moray eels and is surrounded by the beautiful, rocky, seabed downslope, of the area.
Limeni Wreck offers a perfect combination of freediving for an ancient wreck exploration and an outstanding underwater scenery, in one of the Greece’s most beautiful and atmospheric coastal settings.
The 2,100-year-old ancient shipwreck is the remains of a cargo ship and it sank filled with large transport amphorae, the fragments of which are now scattered on the seabed, from 5 meters deep to 21 meters and deeper, down to 35 meters. The entire body of the ship is now formed on the seabed, at a depth of 9 to 12 meters, with a length of 38 meters, from the fragments of the amphorae, that have become one body with each other and with the rock of the seabed.
Until the 1980s, there were still complete large amphorae, along its entire length, which were looted over the years, as the wreck remained essentially unprotected.
With the correct directions, anyone can easily find the ancient shipwreck: one will arrive by car at the chapel of Agios Sostis, on the western edge of the bay, outside Limeni. There, just 30 meters exactly in front of the chapel, the wreck begins at a depth of 5 meters. At 9 to 12 meters, we will be able to distinguish from the surface the entire shape of the large ship, 38 meters long, from the broken amphorae that have stuck to the seabed. The area of the wreck covers 150 square meters on the seabed. At a depth of 35 meters there is still one last complete, big, amphorae, standing at the seabed.
The scientific research of the wreck began in 1977 and continues to this day. In 2018, a special universities’ study captured a 3D image of the shipwreck on the seabed.
Limeni Wreck offers a perfect combination of freediving for an ancient wreck exploration and an outstanding underwater scenery, in one of the Greece’s most beautiful and atmospheric coastal settings.
Photos
Maps
Sources
- https://thediver.gr/divesite/limeni-wreck
- https://diveplannerpro.com/spots/gr/peloponese/limeni-wreck-peloponese-gr
- https://manivoice.gr/content/%CF%84%CE%BF-%CE%B1%CF%81%CF%87%CE%B1%CE%AF%CE%BF-%CE%BD%CE%B1%CF%85%CE%AC%CE%B3%CE%B9%CE%BF-%CF%83%CF%84%CE%BF-%CE%BB%CE%B9%CE%BC%CE%AD%CE%BD%CE%B9
- https://lakonia.mobi/el/article/mnimeia/arxaioi-xronoi/romaiko-nauagio-sto-limeni/2109
- https://inlaconia.gr/el/places-to-visit/limeni
- https://www.tovima.gr/2021/07/31/culture/limeni-i-petra-kai-to-fos-tis-lakonikis-manis
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