Poland – Baltic Sea Wrecks (Gulf of Gdańsk & Pomerania)

Poland's Baltic diving is almost all about wrecks. The brackish, cold water preserves steel and wood well, and the Gulf of Gdańsk off the Hel peninsula holds a dense cluster of warships, tugs, fishing boats and a submarine in 12–47 m, reached by short boat rides from Hel, Jastarnia and Gdynia. Further out lie deep open-sea wrecks for technical divers, down to the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin at 87 m. Since August 2026 a new ordinance of the Maritime Office in Gdynia lists 64 wrecks that can be dived without a permit; every other wreck needs a permit from the Director of the Maritime Office. The great refugee ships of 1945 – the Wilhelm Gustloff, the Goya and the General von Steuben – are war graves where diving is banned. Expect 5–10 m visibility, a sharp thermocline and nets on the deeper wrecks.

Facts

• Wreck permit rule: Diving on a wreck in Polish sea areas needs a permit from the competent Maritime Office director unless the wreck is on the list in Ordinance No. 18 of 16 July 2026 (64 wrecks, 43 down to 50 m; replaces order No. 26/2006; in force from early August 2026). For listed wrecks the organiser only notifies the port of departure. Permit contact: Urząd Morski w Gdyni, +48 58 355 33 33, umgdy@umgdy.gov.pl (source: umgdy.gov.pl)
• War graves with a diving ban: Wilhelm Gustloff and Goya are banned: no diving within 500 m (Port Order No. 1 of 27 Feb 2019; Ordinance No. 20 of 21 Nov 2022 also covers war-grave wrecks). The ban list is limited to the Gdynia office's area. General von Steuben is described by National Geographic Polska as a war grave with a 500 m ban, but it is not on the Gdynia list and its position was not verified, so it is left out. (source: umgdy.gov.pl)
• Penetration, deep wrecks, dive plan: The Maritime Office's safety recommendations state a total ban on penetrating wrecks, damaging them or taking anything; for wrecks deeper than 50 m a dive plan (depth, time, area of the wreck) should be left with the dive base or port master. Nets and lines are the main hazard, shallow wrecks being usually net-free and deeper ones full of nets. (source: umgdy.gov.pl)
• Munitions and fuel: Some wrecks (e.g. the tanker Franken) still hold fuel, and some seabed areas may contain unexploded ordnance or chemical weapons; divers are told to avoid such areas and not to touch anything. (source: am.gdynia.pl)
• Water temperature and visibility: A Gdynia dive centre reports about 4 C in winter, usually over 20 C near the surface in summer, about 15 C at average depth and below 10 C beneath 50 m; visibility is typically 5-10 m but can reach 30 m, best in spring and autumn, and early-summer algae blooms can cut it under 5 m. Gulf diving runs nearly all year, open-sea dives April-September. (source: wreck-diving.pl)
• Emergency and hyperbaric chamber: National hyperbaric centre: Klinika Medycyny Hiperbarycznej i Ratownictwa Morskiego (Krajowy Ośrodek Medycyny Hiperbarycznej), Powstania Styczniowego 9b, Gdynia, part of the Maritime and Tropical Medicine Institute of GUMed with several multiplace chambers. Phone +48 58 699 86 54, hyperbar@ucmmit.gdynia.pl comes from a third-party directory and +48 58 699 86 32 from a 2018 paper, both unverified on an official page; no official emergency line was found. Polish emergency number: 112. (source: informator.gumed.edu.pl)

Season

• Best months: Apr, May, Sep, Oct
• Acceptable: Mar, Jun, Jul, Aug
• Poor: Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb
• Water temperature: 4–21 °C

Gulf of Gdańsk diving runs almost all year; visibility is best in spring and autumn and early-summer algae blooms cut it. Surface water can exceed 20 C in summer while deep water is under 10 C, so a drysuit is advisable. Open-sea dives run April to September. Month split is an estimate from these sources.

Dive sites (19)

Gulf of Gdańsk (Hel, Jastarnia, Gdynia, Rozewie)

• "Georg Büchner" (off Rozewie) – 24–41 m, advanced
• "Mount Vernon" (off Rozewie) – 20–29 m, intermediate
• Abille tug (Hel) – 38–47 m, advanced
• Franken tanker (part of hull) – 47–66 m, advanced
• Ju 88 aircraft wreck (probable) – 40–41 m, advanced
• K-18 Bryza (Hel) – 12–22 m, beginner
• Munin / Trałowiec Hel (minesweeper) – 33–42 m, advanced
• OP Ślązak (Malutka) submarine (Jastarnia) – 25–31 m, advanced
• ORP Delfin (Puck Bay) – 14–21 m, intermediate
• ORP Groźny (Jastarnia) – 11–19 m, beginner
• ORP Wicher remnants (Hel) – 3–21 m, intermediate
• Volmer tug – 24–27 m, intermediate

Open Baltic off Pomerania (Łeba, Ustka)

• Arngast – 19–23 m, intermediate
• General von Steuben (TILOS / no diving) – 50–70 m, advanced
• Goya (TILOS / no diving) – 42–76 m, advanced
• Graf Zeppelin (carrier wreck) – 59–87 m, advanced
• Svanhild – 15–22 m, intermediate
• Terra (off Łeba) – 35–45 m, advanced
• Wilhelm Gustloff (TILOS / no diving) – 23–45 m, advanced

Operators (3)

• Diving Baltic (Hel) – dive centre, ul. Kuracyjna 1 (port rybacki), Hel
• Baza Nurkowa Hel – dive centre, ul. Kuracyjna 1, Hel
• Centrum Techniki Nurkowej (CTN Diving Center) – dive centre, ul. Limbowa 9a, 81-520 Gdynia

Wreck positions for listed wrecks come from the Maritime Office's official list; banned and unlisted wrecks are shown only approximately and are not for navigation. Boat trips depend on weather and minimum numbers. Rules changed in August 2026 – check the current list and conditions with the Maritime Office and your operator.