Most of St. Vincent's best dive sites are located up the Leeward (west) coast within a 10 to 15 minute boat ride. Our divers see pristine reefs and intact corals unlike dive travelers who visit the most popular destinations.

New divers will be overwhelmed by the schools of brightly colored fish, the abundance of colorful sponges and the number of reef creatures on our wide variety of sites. Seahorses and frogfish are prolific here although we cannot guarantee to find them on each dive. Spotted drum are plentiful in St. Vincent and many can be seen on every dive.

Experienced divers and especially photographers will be amazed with the variety of rare creatures we are discovering every day at our sites. We now know that 2 species of bat fish, the shortnose and red lipped, live in the sandy areas of several sites. The beautiful red "cover photo" Red Banded Lobster from Paul Humann's Reef Creatures book are often found deep at several sites. Split lure frogfish as well as the very common longlure frogfish are also in the shallow sand. Porcelain crabs, Golden Coral Shrimp, Spoon Nosed Eels, Viper Morays, Brotula and other macro subjects will keep a photographer shooting at least one roll of 36/dive.

Our dives are generally easy with little to no current, except for a few drift dives. This is ideal for experienced divers, inexperienced divers and photographers. The visability is typically 50-80 feet, owing to the amount of plankton in the water which accounts for the abundance of marine life on our sites.

Read Well-Trained Eyes, The Christmas Seahorse Tale and Special of the Day at www.SeaHorseTales.com for stories about St. Vincent diving.

A Few of Our Favorite St. Vincent Dive Sites

Alternative Bay

We started diving Alternative Bay when current, surge or wind blew us off our favorite locations. Now, this site is among the favorites. Some guests like this site best!

Alternative Bay has an extensive shallow reef of finger coral; a large sand and seagrass area; and a steep slope filled with sponges and corals down to about 110 ft.

This is a good site to dive any time. In the sand, look for seahorses, Flying Gurnard, Electric Rays, Pistol Shrimps, Golden Coral Shrimp and Snake Eels. We've even found a pink Striated Frogfish in the sand at this dive site.

Cherub Angelfish, the Caribbean's smallest Angelfish live in the finger coral garden as do octopus (we saw both Common and Caribbean Two-Spot Octopus last trip). Juvenile reef fish hover above the finger corals, creating a wonderful vista.. and right under the mooring!

Frogfish seem to love the coral/sponge covered slope, which is also a great place to photograph blennies, Christmas Tree Worms, Split Crown worms anc crinoids on colorful coral backgrounds.

New Guinea Reef

Black coral grows starting at 30 feet and a magnificent, multicolored black coral forest at 90 feet is the turnaround point for the dive. We ascend back along the vertical wall adorned with gigantic barrel sponges and lacy gorgonians.

Unfortunately, this reef, which was at one time one of the most beautiful in the world, was damaged by a succession of pollution from the nearby industrial area (most likely), a period of extra warm water and the crazy waves generated by Hurricane Lenny in 1999. The amazing sections of finger corals, hard corals and sponges that once thrived in the more shallow areas were reduced to rubble. New Guinea Reef is still a good place to look for critters in the rubble and sand, but former visitors to this reef will cry when they see its current condition.

Hans Reef

Yes, this is Hans Reef and we've seen Hans! The biggest Caribbean Reef Lobster ever lives on this beautiful reef.

Hans is a rocky plateau covered with sponges, file corals and critters. The top is very shallow, perhaps 20ft. and in the sun is a dazzling display of the density of St. Vincent marine life. Brittle stars, hermit crabs, Split Crown, Christmas tree and other worms, Scorpionfish, Eels, Reef Scorpionfish and others congregate en mass here on the top of Hans Reef.

	Sponge Garden - Hans Reef

The reef drops off a couple of shallow walls finally to a depth of about 120 ft. at the sandy bottom. On the ledges, watch for seahorses, sponge crabs, the Gaudy Clown Crab.

The area around 800-100 ft has the most beautiful sponge coverage in the Caribbean and is dotted with small schools of Blackbar Soldier fish and other schooling reef fish.

You'll want to dive this site over and over again looking for beautiful scenes, turtles and frogfish.

Orca Point

	2nd Favorite Orca Point Frogfish Photo

Orca Point is literally crawling with creatures so it makes a fantastic night dive and is especially good for macro photography night or day.

The site has many different habitats for critters and it is worth making several dives on Orca Point just to spend time in each area. Under the mooring are huge boulders, a favorite spot for frogfish!

On a typical dive we see several seahorses, flying gurnard, fingerprint snails, frogfish, lots of live sand dollars, sea bisquits (complete with pea crabs), many types of crabs (swimmer, hermit, anemone, sponge) and a variety of shrimp, flounders, etc.

The dive has a varied terrain from 20 to 120 feet and should be done multiple times to explore all the possibilities of the site. The shallow area of boulders swarms with fish. The gentle slope densely populated with sponges, corals and anemones is home to a wonderful collection of small creatures.

Pinnacle

Pinnacle is exactly that. An oblong pinnacle rising from the sea floor to a depth of 25 feet. Currents sweep the pinnacle so we must pick the best times to dive this site. The currents bring an abundance of food past the site and the number and variety of creatures living around the site is incredible.

The marine life varies from season to season. At some times this peak can be better named "Frogfish Heaven" for the number and variety of colors of Longlure Frogfish that hole up in the sponges here.

The site slopes down to well over 100 feet, with the majority of the creatures found in the 25 to 70 foot range. Scorpionfish are found in abundance, as are many species of worms, reef fish, eels and octopus hiding among the steep sponge-covered slope. Oh! And, this wonderful orange seahorse might just still be around.

Critter Corner

	blue throat pike blenny

A new name for an old site. This site of sand and seagrass beds is almost on the doorstep of most of the island's hotels. It's a muck dive with small areas of boulders, sand and seagrass.. mostly silty and often with bad viz.

The site is relatively flat with a max. depth of about 35 ft. In the sandy areas near the edges of the islands or rocky patches, watch for Sailfin Blennies, Blue Throat Pike Blennies, Yellow-head Jawfish (check for eggs in their mouths) and Snake Eels. We spotted the Atlantic Long-Arm Octopus just under our boat.

In the area of sponges & soft corals, look carefully for seahorses and frogfish.

Critter Corner is not much of a night dive, but if you can't go far.. it will do.

The Bat Cave

This is a dive that can only be done when there is little or no surge. We anchor away from the cave then make a short swim over rocks into a low tunnel. Light filters in from the top of the cave. Swimming down a narrow, but short passage we see the cave with light filtering in from the cave exit. The cave is only partially underwater.

Once in the cave we surface and have a look around. Thousands of tiny bats cling to the cave walls and flutter with annoyment at our bubbles rising to the surface and disturbing their slumber.

The dive continues outside the cave. Lettuce leaf slugs are common in the area and it is worth searching for critters on the way to the soldierfish cave. At the other end of the small bay in about 30-35 feet of water is another tiny cave. A dense school of blackbar soldierfish in formation school in front of the cave opening. Behind them, a wall of sponges provides a colorful background for photos.

Wayne's World

Weird, funky, offbeat.. this site is mainly for photographers interested in finding a "Magic Rock" type environment.

In the midst of underwater sand dunes, this site appears as a mucky bunch of silt-covered rocks.. but surrounded by juvenile fish.. sometimes so thick in places that you can't see how ugly it is underneath!

This site must be an oasis for critters. In the apparent desolation of the surrounding sand, the critters have journeyed over to Wayne's World and set up camp. For example on one rock about the size of 1/2 a dining table we found: a Bullseye Lobster holeing up with a Spotted Moray Eel under the rock; we watched as a photographer aimed at File Clams in a hole on top of the rock as a Chain Moray Eel came out of a hole on the side, extended itself for about 18 inches right up to the photographer's elbow; meanwhile the photographer and all the rest were encased in a shimmering net of tiny silver fish! Rumor has it that frogfish like this area too.

 

Anchor Reef

Anchor Reef has a little bit of everything. A deep black coral garden on the edge of a wall, a bit of a cave at 35 feet where blackbar soldierfish congregate, a gentle slope sprouting a variety of sponges and corals, a reef top covered with the ever present colorful encrusing and rope sponges, corals and critters and a wonderful sandy area we can search for the sand dwelling creatures.

Anchor is a site to dive over and over again, day or night. A variety of eels are commonly found on the reef along with frogfish, reef fish, beautiful social, split-crown and feather duster worms. Over the sandy area, schools of squid may let a diver come close enough to touch. It is not unusual to find several seahorses in the sandy area, or a sand eel, pistol shrimp, small octopi buried up to their eyeballs or box crabs.

Anchor also has the reputation of having the best visability of our dive sites.

For more information on Diving in St. Vincent and the Grenadines, visit

scubaSVG, the St. Vincent and the Grenadines SCUBA Diving web site

Please send us an email contact@dive-st-vincent-scuba-diving.com

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