Surendorf reef (Eckernförde Bay)
Surendorf, at the eastern end of the Eckernförde Bay, has been a classic of northern German diving for decades. The 'reef' is the jumbled ruin of a torpedo test station blown up in 1945: about 300 m of huge concrete blocks, mooring posts and long girders, with walls rising from about 12 m almost to the surface at the tip of the former platform. Chambers and passages invite exploration; cod and sea trout hide in the crevices, lumpfish breed here in spring, and eelpout, butterfish, shrimps and goldsinny wrasse live on the top. On the way out you cross wide seagrass meadows with pipefish, nudibranchs and plaice, and night dives with hunting cod and eels are a highlight.
Facts
- Region: Germany – Baltic & North Sea Coast
- Area: Schleswig-Holstein Baltic (Fehmarn, Kiel, Eckernförde)
- Depth: 2–14 m
- Level: intermediate
- Current: low
- Type: reef, night, bay
- Coordinates: 54.4775, 10.0717 (approximate)
- Highlights: ruins of the torpedo test station blown up in 1945: huge concrete blocks, walls, chambers and girders, about 300 m long, walls from 12 m almost to the surface, seagrass meadows with pipefish, nudibranchs and plaice, lumpfish breeding in spring, cod and sea trout in crevices, eelpout, butterfish, shrimps, goldsinny wrasse, night dives with hunting cod and eels
- Tips: Dive from the Tauchparadies Schwedeneck base at Zum Kurstrand 3, Surendorf: pick up a barrier chip at the base to unload, then use the paid car park. Wade through calf-deep water and over a sandbar before descending. The site borders the WTD 71 naval test area – the navy tolerates diving only if the rules are kept, so get the base's briefing on the permitted route. The iron deflects compasses; a torch helps in the crevices; a full circuit takes 70–80 minutes. Watch out for protruding reinforcement bars.