Le Rubis, submarine wreck diving in French Riviera

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A few miles ashore from Cavalaire, French Riviera, lies at 40 m deep a famous submarine of WWII: the Rubis (Ruby in English). Cavalaire is about an hour driving from Toulon and about 30 minutes from Saint Tropez. You can also dive the submarine from Le Lavandou and then easily combine this dive with Port-Cros National Park.

The 66m submarine was part of the French Navy and built in 1931. During WWII she sank 22 battleships and was nicknamed the “Comrade of the Liberation”. After the war, the Rubis was used as a submarine school in the Navy Base of Toulon. In 1958, she was scuttled off the coast of Cavalaire.

It was only decades later it was “rediscovered” by local French scuba divers to become one of the best wreck dive sites in the world. The submarine lies on a white sandy bottom and has become a rich artificial reef with many groupers and dentex hunting around it.

I was lucky to dive there last October with Plongeeo diving school in top visibility conditions.

Do you want to discover the other dive sites in the Var prefecture? Have a look at these articles:

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Posted by Florine

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