Airplane Wreck (Sunset Waters)
Dive site off Curaçao. Here's what has been recorded at this site month by month, how the region’s reefs have weathered ocean heat, and how to prepare.
Airplane Wreck (Sunset Waters): dive site off Curaçao.
Entry
Entry points, depths, currents and any local rules will be added once we can verify them from official sources.
At this site Airplanes - Accidents - Airplane Wreck. Wilbur Wright Aviation Field, Dayton, Ohio - NARA - 17337885 · Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
The surface noise falls away.
Reds go first. The world turns blue-green.
Then Airplane Wreck (Sunset Waters) rises to meet you.
What lives here, by month
Pick a month. These are the species most often recorded within about a kilometre in that month, from open survey records.
| Species | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Swissguard Basslet | ||||||||||||
| Bicolor Damselfish | ||||||||||||
| French Grunt | ||||||||||||
| Peppermint Goby | ||||||||||||
| Atlantic Creolefish | ||||||||||||
| Barred Cardinalfish | ||||||||||||
| Barfin Goby | ||||||||||||
| Spotted drum | ||||||||||||
| Redface moray | ||||||||||||
| Smallmouth Grunt | ||||||||||||
| Glasseye Snapper | ||||||||||||
| Yellowtail Damselfish |
Most-recorded species, all months
- Swissguard Basslet (15)
- Bicolor Damselfish (15)
- French Grunt (14)
- Peppermint Goby (12)
- Atlantic Creolefish (11)
- Barred Cardinalfish (8)
- Boulder brain coral (6)
- Barfin Goby (6)
- Smallmouth Grunt (6)
- Spotted drum (6)
- Redface moray (6)
- Glasseye Snapper (5)
- Yellowtail Damselfish (5)
- Spotted Moray (5)
- False Moray (5)
- Bermuda sponge shrimp (5)
- Banded butterflyfish (5)
- Bartail Goby (4)
- Mahogany Snapper (4)
- Ringed Blenny (4)
GBIF.org (2026-10-15), occurrence records within ~1 km, licensed CC0 or CC BY 4.0 only. Birds and land animals are excluded. Counts reflect survey effort, not abundance. 1,081 qualifying records. See them on GBIF. Common names: Wikidata (CC0) / GBIF. Species photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited with each species.
Forty-one summers of heat
Each stripe is one year since 1985, colored by its peak heat stress across NOAA's “Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire” region. These are NOAA Coral Reef Watch satellite figures for the whole region, not for this one site.
Heat stress, measured from orbit.
NOAA CRW virtual station “Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire”. NOAA's alert thresholds are 4 °C-weeks (Alert Level 1) and 8 °C-weeks (Alert Level 2). Station page · Method. Credit: NOAA Coral Reef Watch.
Conditions
Average sea temperature through the year. Check the live readings before you go.
Average sea surface temperature by month: NOAA CRW “Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire” station climatology (monthly means).
Buoy readings are measurements; forecasts are models. Use them for planning only, and assess conditions on site. Depth and visibility data aren't listed until we can cite a source.
Plan & prepare
- Read the official marine forecast the night before.Offshore, wind and sea state decide the day.
- Confirm access, hours and any fees with the site.[Placeholder: verified operator list to come]
- Study this month's species above.You'll recognise more when you know the names.
- Hands off, fins up, buoyancy dialled. Log what you see.Your sightings can become tomorrow's open data.
Photographs from Airplane Wreck (Sunset Waters)
Openly licensed photos, each checked for location against its title, description, category or geotag. Labels show how close each one is to the site.
Credits
- Coordinates
- OpenStreetMap node/663869381 · source · ODbL. OpenStreetMap (ODbL) dive-site nodes, plus two Wikidata (CC0) reef items. Crowd-sourced, approximate positions. Approximate position.
- Species records
- GBIF.org, CC0 & CC BY 4.0 records. By license: CC_BY_4_0: 928, CC0_1_0: 153
- Dataset
- EOD – eBird Observation Dataset · doi:10.15468/aomfnb (827 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- NMNH Material Samples (USNM) · doi:10.15468/jb9tdf (70 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- International Barcode of Life project (iBOL) · doi:10.15468/inygc6 (37 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- NMNH Extant Specimen Records (USNM, US) · doi:10.15468/hnhrg3 (35 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- INSDC Sequences · doi:10.15468/sbmztx (35 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- Vertebrate Zoology Division - Ichthyology, Yale Peabody Museum · doi:10.15468/mgyhok (34 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- Copepoda associated with Caribbean reef-dwelling cnidarians, echinoderms and sponges · doi:10.15468/qlseki (10 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- iNaturalist Research-grade Observations · doi:10.15468/ab3s5x (7 records) · GBIF
- Query
- https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?decimalLatitude=12.25694,12.27694&decimalLongitude=-69.13766000000001,-69.11766&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&taxonKey=44&taxonKey=206&taxonKey=229&taxonKey=136&taxonKey=225&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&limit=0
- Heat stress & SST
- NOAA Coral Reef Watch, 5 km Regional Virtual Station “Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire”
- Hero photo
- At this site Airplanes - Accidents - Airplane Wreck. Wilbur Wright Aviation Field, Dayton, Ohio - NARA - 17337881 · Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
- Arrival photo
- At this site Airplanes - Accidents - Airplane Wreck. Wilbur Wright Aviation Field, Dayton, Ohio - NARA - 17337885 · Unknown authorUnknown author or not provided · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
- Gallery
- 7 photos, credited under each image
- Species photos
- Wikimedia Commons, credited with each species. Full list: Data & sources