Great Basses Reef

Sri Lanka

A remote offshore reef about 12 km off Sri Lanka's south coast, marked by a historic lighthouse and famous for the 18th-century Great Basses shipwreck.

Great Basses Reef is a remote offshore reef roughly 12 kilometres off Sri Lanka's south coast, marked by a 37-metre lighthouse. It is best known for the Great Basses wreck, an early 18th-century ship discovered by Arthur C. Clarke and Mike Wilson in 1961. Additional wrecks lie in the surrounding waters. Access is from Kirinda on the southeast coast, and diving is only feasible during a short inter-monsoon window, roughly mid-March to mid-April, due to strong currents outside this period.