USS Kittiwake
Depth is the range from the top of the site to its usual maximum; "recommended cert" is the mainstream-agency level operators usually ask for, not a legal rule. Currents and visibility change daily — treat everything here as planning ranges.
The Kittiwake spent decades standing by for downed submarines — she tended rescue divers and recovered the black box from the Challenger disaster — and retirement suits her. Scuttled in 2011 in bright shallow water, she was prepared almost politely for divers: hatches wide, hazards stripped, five decks of legible spaces from recompression chamber to mess. Storm swell has since rolled her onto her port side, which improved the drama; corridors now run at film-noir angles and the propeller frames divers against blue. Snorkelers read her outline from the surface. Few wrecks anywhere are this generous per bar of pressure.
The moment you come for: Intact rescue-ship spaces at kind depths, tilted corridors and the stern prop, snorkel-visible from the surface.
Topography: A 76 m ex-US Navy submarine rescue vessel scuttled in January 2011 on sand, later pushed onto a port list by storm swell.
Entry: Moored marine-park site off the north end of Seven Mile Beach; paid entry, buoyed perimeter.
Know before you splash
Hazards: Interior spaces disorient now that floors are walls; penetrate only with training or a guide.
Permits & rules: Wreck admission fee collected by operators.
Conservation: A managed marine-park wreck with an access fee funding maintenance; anchoring is banned and lines stay on the buoys.
Who you'll meet
Garden Eel
Great Barracuda
Green Sea Turtle
Southern Stingray
For photographers
Wide angle: ★★★★★ · Macro: ★★☆☆☆ — editors' 1–5 rating of what this site gives each style of shooting