Gorontalo Scuba Diving Sites

Japanese Cargo Wreck

In 1942 this Japanese cargo ship was sailing out of Gorontalo port laden with wood, rattan, and copra. The engine caught fire and the captain made an attempt to salvage the cargo by steering the stricken ship onto shore. Unfortunately the reef dealt a blow to these plans and the ship sank adjacent and parallel to the reef slope, with all the cargo being lost.

The wreck now lies upside down. The 50 m long hull rests with its bow to the south east on 47 m and is decorated with sea fans and blue and purple gorgonian sea whips. Salvador Dali sponges grow on the deeper levels. The top of the wreck (now the hull) lies between 40 m and 26 m, with the sponge-encrusted propeller at the stern being the shallowest section. There's also lots of scattered debris on the reef slope that runs down to 20 metres.

Back on the steep banking reef there are swarms of purple queens. Gorontalo seems to bring out slightly different colour variations in fish and these anthias are no exception. Females are violet with an orange spine, and the males are magenta-blue with a yellow jaw. Glued to the banking are cushion star fish. Take a good look on their surface as they are often host to tiny emperor shrimps.

Pyjama cardinalfish rest out the daylight hours hidden in the acropora branches. These delightful fish are very shy but unmistakable once found. They have red eyes, yellow heads, a dark band around the middle of the bodies and a spotted rear body and tail. Other cardinalfish you can find here are the redspot cardinalfish (spot is on the tail fin) and split-banded cardinalfish (typical red and white striped body, but with blue eyes).

Heading back to the shallows at the end of your dive, there's a good chance of seeing large cuttlefish. Orange back wrasse wing their merry way about, and orange skunk anemonefish busy themselves protecting their eggs near their host anemones.

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Japanese Cargo Wreck Reef Basics: wreck diving
Depth: 5 - >40m
Visibility: 10 - 25m
Currents: Gentle
Surface Conditions: Calm
Water Temperature: 28 - 30°C
Experience Level: Intermediate - advanced
Number of dive sites: 1
Diving Season: November - April
Distance: ~3 km east of Gorontalo (5 mins)
Access: Gorontalo dive liveaboards

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