Summary
Explore archaeological ruins as well as contemporary art at these underwater museums. If you’re not SCUBA certified, most of these can also be seen by snorkeling or taking tours in glass-bottomed boats.
Baia Underwater Park, Italy
Most people know about Pompeii, the Roman city near Naples, but few know about Baia, which was about three times the size of Pompeii. While Pompeii was covered in volcanic ash, Baia was abandoned in the 8th century and then submerged underwater. Today, it can best be explored by snorkelers and divers.
Just a few kilometers north of Naples near Pozzuoli, visitors can discover the Baia Underwater Park. The city was once a lavish seaside resort for rich Romans, and even the emperor Caligula visited. Historians today compare it to Las Vegas or Beverly Hills. On clear summer days, visitors can travel by glass-bottomed boat to see the ruins. Additionally, snorkeling excursions are available, but the best experiences will be had with SCUBA equipment. With the guidance of a local instructor, you’ll be able to swim between marble sculptures and experience the exquisite mosaic floors up close.
Excursions are led by Centro Sub Campi Flegrei.
Herod’s Harbor, Israel
The city of Caesarea in Israel has been the center of many excavations over the past 30 years. In 2006, “Herod’s Harbor” was opened as an underwater museum focused on one of the largest ports of the Roman Empire, inaugurated in 10 BCE.
Visitors float from exhibition to exhibition to see a ruined lighthouse, original foundations, anchors, and pedestals. With 36 different sign-posted sites along four marked trails of the sunken harbor, visitors are also provided with a waterproof map. One trail is accessible to snorkelers, while the others are designed specifically for beginning divers.
The port is named Herod’s Harbor, as Caesarea was built by Herod on the ruins of a Phoenician town called Straton’s Tower. Josephus Flavius, a Romano-Jewish scholar, describes the building of the port in “The Jewish Wars.”
Museo Subacuático de Arte (MUSA)
This underwater contemporary art museum features over 500 permanent monumental sculptures in the waters surrounding Cancun, Isla Mujeres, and Punta Nizuc.
MUSA’s primary goal is to demonstrate the interaction between art and science while creating a reef structure for marine life to colonize. All the artworks are crafted from specialized materials that promote coral growth and are tethered to the seabed.
Visitors can appreciate the art through glass-bottomed boat tours, snorkeling, and diving expeditions. MUSA also aims to divert some of the 750,000 divers who visit the Yucatán Peninsula annually away from the coral reefs to help conserve these vital ecosystems.
Museo Atlántico Lanzarote
Opened in 2016, the Museo Atlántico Lanzarote was inspired by MUSA in Mexico and is the very first underwater contemporary art museum in Europe. The installations are designed to raise awareness about environmental and climate change issues while creating new marine habitats for the Canary Islands. Dive instructors lead informative tours of the nearly 300 sculptures submerged in this artistically engaging underwater landscape.
Shipwreck Trail, Florida Keys
Divers have the opportunity to explore a trail of historic shipwrecks within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Some sites are quite shallow, while others are significantly deeper, providing a diversity of diving experiences.
The oldest shipwreck is the San Pedro, which departed Havana, Cuba, bound for Spain in 1733. It was carrying Mexican silver coins and crates filled with Chinese porcelain when it was caught in a hurricane. With insufficient time to return to port, the ship sank, only to be discovered in the 1960s by treasure hunters who recovered ballast, cannons, and remnants of the cargo.
Conversely, the youngest shipwreck is the Thunderbolt, constructed during World War II. The vessel was never officially commissioned and was later used for research on the electrical energy in lightning strikes. Eventually, it was donated to the Florida Keys Artificial Reef Association and intentionally sunk in 1986.
