SS Sapona

The Sapona was one of the concrete ships built during the First World War when steel was short, and she ended up aground on a sandbank off South Bimini in the 1926 hurricane, where she has stayed. The hull stands out of the water, rusted rebar showing through broken concrete, with the interior open to the sky and fish schooling through it in about five metres of water. She was used as a rum-running store and later as a bombing target, both of which show.

What you actually see

• The concrete hull - a ship built of concrete, standing out of the shallows since 1926.
• The open interior - broken sections letting light down into the hull.
• The fish - schools using the wreck as structure in shallow clear water.
• The damage - rebar and holes from decades of storms and target practice.

When to go

November to April is the dry season with the calmest water. Visibility is best in settled weather. Winter fronts make the crossing rough and the wreck unpleasant.

Honest expectations

The wreck is decaying and the exposed rebar is sharp and rusted; swimming inside it is genuinely risky and is not what it looks like from the boat. Access is by charter only. Surge inside the hull can be strong.

Nearby

South Bimini is nearby, and Alice Town is on North Bimini.