Sample Diving

The Diving

Looking for dramatic structures or calm waters to master that new macro lens? Does a wild drift do it for you or is the thrill of close encounters with the big pelagics more your thing?

We summarise the diving environment for each island as well as describing every dive. Six or more dives per island are described in detail with an underwater site plan.

For an example of a detailed write up and site plan see our sample dive for each island.

For the remainder of the dives on each island we give a brief summary of the site. The examples below are from the chapter on Barbados - see the Barbados page for more diving information and maps.

BARBADOS Dive Sites

29	Ernie's Bar 60'-135'	As an extension of The Muff, it is a very similar dive. The top of the reef is somewhat flatter, but the marine life is every bit as interesting. As well as an impressive selection of hard corals, the sea fans on this reef are the stars of the show. They are large and delicate, a blatant clue to the fact that the site has not been dived for all that long, and there is little or no anchor damage. Parrotfish and filefish have made Ernie's Bar their home and hordes of small reef fish get on with their lives uninterrupted by divers.
30	Mount Charlie 75'-140'	You might reasonably expect that the mount in the name described the topography of this reef and you would not be disappointed. To be accurate it is more a mound than a mountain but some poetic licence is to be forgiven. The reef is an oval, just over 100 feet long and 30 feet wide, which slopes down to 140 feet on each side. The top sits 75 feet below the surface, making a precision drop by the dive boat highly desirable. The island-type configuration of the reef seems to have resulted in the coral cramming itself onto the reef, as if surrounded by an uninhabitable desert. This has caused some strange morphological developments as sponges bend around to fit the available space. Some very large brain corals have grabbed territory by their sheer bulk. Loggerhead sponges are as common as vase sponges, as if their more solid structure were able to withstand the crush. These sponges are easily distinguished, as the vases have a hollow centre as compared to the honeycomb centre of the loggerheads.
31	Graham Hall Shallows 40'-70'	Much shallower than the rest of the banking reefs at its top, the ridge is small being only 30 feet high. It does have some charming features though. Some of the very many vase sponges have taken on the shape of giant armchairs, where one side has been broken off or nibbled away to suggest a hollow in which one could sit. As well as the lovely sponges there is a good variety of coral, even some sheet coral. Soft corals thrive here, too; gorgonians and sea fans add to the attractions of the reef.
32	Little Point 50'-130'	A finger of coral like a pinnacle sticks up from 130 feet making another area of interesting terrain. Dive around the pinnacle and marvel at the volume of marine life supported by this closed community and you will be joined by a procession of fish, probably doing much the same thing.
33	High Wire 65'-140'	An oval 200 feet long and 30 feet wide has a steep side to 120 feet on its landward side and a gentle slope to 140 feet on the seaward side. Stretched across the reef, 20-foot above the bottom, is an old telecommunications cable now totally enrobed in sparkling sponges like a Christmas decoration. Not to be outdone, sponges on the reef grow like flashy table decorations.