Naufrágio Guadiana

This wreckage became known as Guadiana, a name tied to a British-flagged cargo ship, powered by steam and sail, that was carrying 1,800 tonnes of coffee from Rio de Janeiro to New York and ran aground on the Abrolhos reefs in June 1885. The name changed as research progressed: found around 2000, the wreck came to be called Arthemis without anyone knowing why, was identified as Guadiana in 2003 and, in a February 2026 study, was concluded to most likely be the Greek cargo ship Artemis after all. That conclusion rests on the engines, the boilers and the two masts, which match the Artemis, and the real Guadiana would lie on the Parcel das Paredes, not yet located.

The bow is wedged into a coral pinnacle (chapeirão), and the impact moulded the starboard side of the bow to the reef. At the stern, the spare propeller still sits on the deck. The broken-up wreckage is already covered in sponges, anemones, gorgonians and various corals, and the pinnacles the ship struck hold many corals of the genus Mussismilia. Next to the wreck there are at least five coral pinnacles, with the soft coral Neospongodes atlantica, a black coral and the fire gorgonian Muricea flamma, as well as schools of xiras, budiões and xareletes.

In the Abrolhos region, the best season tends to run from December to March, with calmer seas and water between 24 and 27 °C. In the Abrolhos Marine National Park, the December to April period, with warmer water, tends to be the best for diving.