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Kodiak Queen Wreck Dive

Virgin Gorda · British Virgin Islands

The Kodiak Queen is one of five ships that survived Pearl Harbor and the only wreck dive in the world wrapped in an 80-foot steel Kraken. She was a 154-foot Navy fuel barge, later an Alaskan crab boat, and in April 2017 she was scuttled off Virgin Gorda as the BVI Art Reef, with a giant steel-mesh octopus sculpture draped over her hull. Nine years on the mesh is furred with coral and the ship is thick with fish. Every photo on this page was taken by Captain Cory while crewing charters here.

What you will see at the Kodiak Queen

The wreck sits upright on flat sand at about 57 feet, with the top of the Kraken and the wheelhouse rising to 15 to 17 feet, so snorkellers on the surface get a real look at her too. Divers drop onto the deck at around 40 feet and work the hull: the passages and hatches were cut open before she went down, so you swim through the superstructure with light coming in from every side, then follow the Kraken tentacles down to the prop on the sand. Expect schools of snapper, blue runners and jacks, sergeant majors, angelfish, cleaner shrimp in the mesh, green turtles, a resident Goliath grouper and the occasional tarpon.

The Kraken steel-mesh sculpture over the deck of the Kodiak Queen, already colonised by coral and reef fish
The Kraken mesh over the deck, growing coral and drawing in reef fish
Diver with a torch swimming along the Kraken tentacle sculpture on the Kodiak Queen wreck
Following a Kraken tentacle along the hull
Light through the open doorways inside the Kodiak Queen wreck, Virgin Gorda
Inside the superstructure: open doorways and light shafts everywhere
Interior passage of the Kodiak Queen wreck with corroded steel and open portholes
The passages were cut open before sinking, so you can see out at every turn
A Goliath grouper cruising past the hull of the Kodiak Queen wreck
A Goliath grouper patrols the hull most days
Two divers waving from an open hatch in the Kodiak Queen wreck
Waving from one of the hatches
Twin portholes and the Kraken mesh seen from inside the Kodiak Queen wreck
Portholes and the Kraken framework from inside
Diver with a dive light emerging from a hatch on the Kodiak Queen wreck
Coming out of the wheelhouse
The propeller of the Kodiak Queen wreck on the sand off Virgin Gorda
The prop, down on the sand at about 57 feet

Dive profile

Depth15 to 57 ft
LevelIntermediate
CurrentMild
Visibility40 to 80 ft
EntryMooring ball
TypeWreck and art reef
SunkApril 2017
LengthAbout 154 ft

Plan on about 40 minutes. It is rated intermediate for the depth and the overhead sections rather than for conditions: current is usually mild and the site sits in the lee near the Dogs and North Sound, so it is diveable most of the year on a calm, low-swell day. Stay out of the hull interior unless you are trained for overhead environments, keep clear of the sharp corroded plate and the Kraken mesh, and watch for dinghy traffic on the way up.

Getting there on your crewed charter

The Kodiak Queen lies off Mountain Point and Long Bay on the west side of Virgin Gorda, a short run from the North Sound anchorages and from Savannah Bay. Your crew takes you over by dinghy or books a local dive boat to meet the yacht, and you tie to the mooring balls set over the wreck, back-roll in and descend the line to the deck. Divers need certification cards and, for the deeper part of the wreck, an Advanced Open Water ticket or a guide. Snorkellers can float over the Kraken from the mooring.

Ask your broker to put the Kodiak Queen on your itinerary when we send your proposal. We crewed in these waters for five seasons and it is the dive we get asked about most.

See the BVI dive and snorkel plan