El Pionero Wreck

El Pionero is a wooden-hulled cargo vessel that foundered on the southern reaches of Banco Chinchorro's reef, and after decades underwater it has been entirely consumed by a thick crust of coral, sponge, and marine growth that has transformed the wreck's outline into an organic reef sculpture. The wreck sits in 8 to 14 metres of water on a sandy slope where the atoll's outer reef begins to steepen, and the combination of wreck structure and natural reef creates a layered habitat of exceptional biodiversity. Large groupers and snapper claim the interior spaces while the surrounding reef is patrolled by reef sharks that cruise in from the wall.