Delsan Wreck

Delsan Wreck: a partial South Atoll guide

Palau Sport places Delsan Wreck among its South Atoll sites in Tubbataha. Master Liveaboards describes a reef dive named for fishing-vessel remains, with a slope and a crevice called The Cut. The name alone should not be read as a promise of an intact wreck or a wreck-penetration route.

What the sources report

Master describes variable currents and gives a depth for The Cut, rather than a surveyed limit for the entire site. That feature measurement is not used here to establish a minimum or maximum dive depth. Palau Sport reports schooling fish, including jacks and barracuda. The Philippine Aggressor log dated 21 March 2026 records visits to Delsan with turtles, reef sharks and schooling fish; these are trip observations, not an encounter forecast.

Planning and remaining gaps

This source-attributed partial guide does not establish today's conditions, an exact entry position or a route suitable for your experience. Confirm which part of Delsan the operator intends to dive, the planned depth and whether the wreck remains are included. A named itinerary stop does not guarantee a visit.

Two incompatible wreck stories

Master Liveaboards' itinerary attributes the name to a small fishing vessel that sank in a storm. The WWF Coral Triangle blog's dive of 13 April 2009 relays a different account from the dive boat's engineer, who said he had been aboard: an oil tanker that ran aground one evening in 1981, after which its crew was held at the lighthouse while the ship was stripped, and reported to the authorities only after more than two months. Neither account has been checked against a shipping record here, and no vessel name is confirmed. What the accounts agree on is that the wreck is not the dive: Divernet (15 March 2020) says the wreck sits in water too shallow for a safe approach and the dive follows a sheer wall from a lush reef; Stephen Frink (Alert Diver, 1 August 2018) says the wreckage is more useful for navigation than as a feature.

Position and survey record

The Tubbataha Management Office surveyed a station "near Delsan wreck" in 2018 and a Delsan Wreck station in 2019, 2023 and 2024, describing the 2024 station as the southern part of South Atoll near the lighthouse; that 2024 station recorded the highest reef-fish species richness of the outer-reef stations surveyed that year (Ecosystem Research and Monitoring Report 2024). TMO's 2025 shark survey ran two transects here of about 738 and 869 metres. Atlantis Azores' trip page groups Delsan Wreck with the lighthouse at the southern end of South Atoll. Operators also use adjacent names: the Philippine Aggressor II log of 30 May 2026 dived "Delsan Crack" and "Delsan Reef", Bill Stewart's May 2009 report lists "North Delsan Wreck", and cbartazo.com's May 2011 log records a "Lighthouse (Delsan)" dive to 20.4 metres alongside a Delsan Wreck dive to 33.8 metres. Ask which of these the boat means.

Reported encounters

The Philippine Aggressor II log of 21 March 2026 records hammerhead sharks in the blue on the first dive, with jacks, barracuda, dogtooth tuna and reef sharks; the 30 May 2026 log records barracuda and jack schools, resting turtles and nudibranchs. The 2009 WWF dive drifted past fans and barrel sponges, a large marble ray and a school of jacks holding into the current, and ended with two close turtle encounters; Frink's 2018 dive had a yellowfin tuna flyby and a large school of bigeye trevally. Atlantis names hammerheads as the prized sighting and mentions guitar sharks in the shallows. These are dated observations, not frequencies.