Bermuda Diving Guide: Graham Maddock Interview

Peter Greenberg - 

Ever wondered why Bermuda is known as the wreck diving capital of the Atlantic ? 

Peter sat down with Graham Maddock, a lifelong Bermudan diver and owner of Triangle Diving about what exists under the seas, where it came from, and the conservation measures being taken to protect local sea life.

Peter Greenberg: For those people who might be intimidated about going underwater the good news is the water is not that deep here. You can really see a lot in a short amount of time.

Graham Maddock: You hit the nail on the head. Most of the recreational diving here in Bermuda is in maximum depth of 60 feet. But we’ve also got the third deepest oceans in the world just off Bermuda.

PG: Plus, you’ve got some great wreck diving.

GM: Phenomenal wreck diving.

PG: Which means they couldn’t find Bermuda until Bermuda found them.

GM: Well, that’s why we have so many wrecks. We’ve got 280 square miles of coral reef here surrounded by a wall of barrier reef. And in the 1600s and 1700s they didn’t have radar, GPS, etc.

PG: Hey, even if you do have radar and GPS, if you don’t know the waters you’re going to run aground.

GM: That just happened just a couple of summers ago. A sailboat was coming in, it had radar and GPS, and it still managed to run into the reef.

PG: And what happened to him?

GM: It sank and we did the recovery on it.

PG: And what happened to that boat?

GM: It was a write-off. You don’t run into the reef here in Bermuda without a lot of damage.

PG: So what would you say is the coolest wreck that you can dive here?

GM: Wow, man, it really depends. There is nowhere else in the world where you have wrecks from the 1500s all the way up to the 1940. My most favorite wreck is on the eastern side of the island. It's call the Iristo and it even has some fire engines on top.

PG: It has fire engines on top?

GM: Yeah, fire engines, and a steam roller. It has a beautiful A-frame steam engine, which is quite rare. It sits in about 50 feet of water, but it's untouched. You’re talking about coral that is absolutely pristine.

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