If you have spent a fair bit of time cruising through Los Santos causing chaos, you might've driven straight past one of the game's moodiest side hustles without realising it, even if you're running around with boosted cash from GTA 5 Modded Accounts. Buried under the waves are the Submarine Parts, a collectible chain that only Michael can actually do, so switching to Franklin or Trevor will not help here. There are 30 metal fragments from a wrecked sub scattered around the seabed all the way around San Andreas, and the whole thing is tied to a pretty dark little side story about a woman called Abigail Mathers and the truth behind her husband's death.

How To Unlock The Submarine Hunt

The game does not let you jump into this underwater scavenger hunt right from the start, so you have to push the main story forward first. You need to finish the mission called "The Merryweather Heist" before anything kicks off. After that, head up to Paleto Cove on the north coast and look for the Sonar Collections Dock, a property that costs $250,000. You can technically buy it with any of the three characters, but the actual mission line only works with Michael, so keep that in mind. Once the dock is yours, swap over to Michael and walk down to the pier to trigger the "Death at Sea" Strangers and Freaks mission, where you meet Abigail and hear her version of what happened to the missing submarine.

Gear, Boat And Sonar Setup

After that first meeting, the whole vibe of the game changes for a while. Every time you visit the dock you get a Dinghy waiting for you, fitted with sonar that pings out blips where the sub parts are hiding. Michael also gets unlimited scuba gear tied to this activity, so as soon as you jump out of the boat he auto-equips a wetsuit and tank, which means you are not constantly worrying about drowning timers or wrestling with menus. You will be checking the Trackify app on your in-game phone a lot, watching the sonar circle tighten as you get close to each piece, then lining up your boat over the signal and diving down into the dark water to look for the fragment.

What It Is Like Underwater

Once you are below the surface, the whole pace slows down in a good way. Some parts are easy: they sit on flat sand in fairly shallow water and you can spot them as soon as your flashlight sweeps past. Others are much more awkward. A few pieces are tucked into rocky cracks, wedged into rusty shipwrecks, or resting on ledges where the light barely reaches, so you end up circling around, rising and dropping, trying not to lose your bearings. You will probably bump into sharks and random fish, and the sound drops off to this muffled rumble that makes the whole ocean feel a bit unsettling, especially when you look down and see nothing but black below your fins.

Why The Submarine Parts Are Worth Doing

Collecting all 30 parts can feel like a grind on paper, but it ends up being one of those quests that sits in your head for a while. You slowly piece together what really happened to the sub and to Abigail's husband, and the payoff has more bite than you might expect from a simple collectible mission. It is also a nice change of pace from the usual police chases and shootouts: you are still using the map and your tools, just in a quieter, almost creepy environment. If you are the kind of player who likes ticking everything off and enjoys weird side stories, it is a great excuse to see parts of the map you would normally ignore, especially if you have already boosted your cash flow with something like GTA 5 Modded Accounts for sale.