SS Michael N. Maris (Vis, Croatia — 240 fsw)

The “Maris” wreck is, simply put, amazing.

I only conducted one dive on this wreck on this trip with a runtime of about 2 hours and 15 minutes and a bottom time of about 20-25 minutes. It is high on my list to revisit.

The Maris was discovered about 5 years ago after sinking 90 years ago on on July 12, 193. She hit a reef en route with a lot of coal from Danzig to Trieste. It is a massive wreck on the order of the Vasillios (105m / 350 feet) and stands straight up off the seabed. The depth of the wreck ranges from 200-240 feet.

The wreck is an “oasis” in the middle of nowhere and is very well preserved. It is covered in purple gorgonians and sea life. There can be strong currents on the wreck but we had great conditions the day I dove it.

Given the depth and my runtime, I was only able to visit about half of the wreck. I started deep at the stern where the downline connects to the wreck. I took pictures of the prop/rudder, then headed back up to the deck, viewed the spare propeller on the deck then proceeded to take pictures in the massive engine room. I spent quite a bit of time in the engine room (I was the only diver who visited there on this dive) and then went forward a little bit before headed back to the stern line to start my decompression.

I definitely need to return and explore more of the wreck.

Photos

Below are a few of the photos I took on the wreck. It was only my second day of diving in Croatia and I was still working on taking pictures with my Retra strobes so there is some backscatter in some of the photos.