Eastern Caribbean Hotspots

The Eastern Caribbean stretches from the Virgin Islands in the north, all the way down to Grenada, and offers some good diving along with excellent topside facilities...

The Eastern Caribbean stretches from the Virgin Islands in the north, all the way down to Grenada, and offers some good diving along with excellent topside facilities. This month, DIVE checks out some of the area's diving hotspots

While Caribbean diving has not had the strongest of reputations, there is undoubtedly a great deal of diving to be had, some of it of far better quality than you might expect. Caribbean waters have their own flavour comprising beautiful sponges, corals and wrecks in warm, calm water. To get the best of the islands, it makes sense to combine your diving with topside attractions and throughout this guide we have highlighted some of the attractions on land. Beaches, mountains and forests, nightlife, a wide range of accommodation and incredibly friendly locals make these islands some of the most beautiful in the world and more than worth a look at during your surface intervals.

Known as ‘Little England’, Barbados’s colonial history is highly evident from the wealth of Anglican churches around the island and the regular cricket matches that take place. The island has a well-established tourist industry, offering a huge range of accommodation, nightlife and restaurants.
Those looking for the quiet life might be better off looking at alternative Caribbean destinations.

The south coast offers the most in terms of accommodation, catering in the main for package tourists at mid-range prices. More expensive luxury accommodation is available on the island’s west coast.

The west and southwest of Barbados offer the best beaches, and watersports enthusiasts are well catered for with everything from jetskiing to windsurfing and, of course, scuba diving.

Sitting on the natural harbour of Carlisle Bay, Bridgetown – the island’s capital – has plenty of restaurants and shops selling a variety of handicrafts and makes for an interesting place to visit. Other activities, such as hiking, golf, bird-watching and horse riding are available at various locations
around the island.

Direct flights are available from a number of UK airports.

THE DIVING
Unlike most Caribbean islands, which are volcanic, Barbados is formed from coral limestone, and fringing coral and offshore barrier reefs, along with wrecks, make up most of the diving. Nearly all of the dive sites are concentrated around the west and southwest coasts, and both shore and boat
dives are available.

The dive sites along the western coast neatly line up geographically from north to south and are suitable for all levels of experience. Visibility is exceptionally good, often in excess of 30m, and you can expect to see turtles, barracudas, jacks, rays, flounders and moray eels. Soft corals, barrel
sponges and tube sponges are also prolific.

One notable site is the wreck of the Stavronikita, a Greek freighter that sank in 1978. The 116m-long wreck sits upright and is home to a number of schooling fish. The mast is just 6m below the surface and the propeller at 40m.

TOP DIVES
Carlisle Bay is home to four wrecks, all so close to one another that you can dive them all on one dive and with a maximum depth of only 16m. The wrecks of the Berwyn, Eillon, C-trek, and Fox are a photographer’s dream, and marine life is impressive, including large numbers of reef fish, grouper, eels, batfish and frogfish.

TOURIST INFORMATION:
Barbados Tourist Board, http://www.barbados.org.uk

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY:
Barbados Crop Over Festival starts on 10 July and lasts for five weeks. This celebration of the sugar harvest incorporates carnivals and calypso.

TEMPERATURES:
See Grenada details

Known as the ‘Spice Island’, Grenada is an explosion of colour and flora that sits on the southern extreme of the Caribbean Sea. A member of the British Commonwealth, the island is a major exporter of nutmeg, cloves, ginger, cinnamon and cocoa. Its interior is made up of rivers, waterfalls
and rainforests and is a popular destination for hikers and birdwatchers, who tend to head for the Grand Etang Lake in the forest reserve to see the flora and fauna.

Direct flights are available from the UK, but some flights make a brief stop in Trinidad to drop off and collect passengers.

While Grenada cannot be described as a budget destination, there is a great deal of accommodation available ranging from relaxing waterfront resorts such as True Blue Bay Resort, and the Calabash Hotel where UK chef Gary Rhodes has opened a restaurant, to the luxury of the Spice Island Beach Resort. Most tourist facilities centre on or around the beach of Grand Anse, a two-mile stretch of sand on Grenada’s southwestern coast. The nearby capital of St George’s is a bustling Caribbean city, full of character and well worth a visit.

The rainy season runs from June to December when short but strong showers change the island’s landscape from a barren brown to lush green.

THE DIVING
Dives on Grenada itself can be divided into two areas – the Caribbean side and the Atlantic side. The Caribbean side makes up most of the diving, which is generally from hardboats out of Grand Anse beach. Grenada is home to several wrecks, including the Bianca C (see Top Dives), the Quarterdeck and the Shakem, a cargo carrier that sank in 2001 which has an easy swim-through. While fishlife is not exceptionally prolific, the many reef dives offer all sorts of crustacea and turtles. Coral growth is good and colourful tube sponges rise up from the sea bed.

Moving round the headland of Point Salines to the east, you come to the Atlantic side. The waters can be choppier here and it’s not always guaranteed that you can visit the dives sites, but when you can they are well worth diving. Again, there is a mixture of reef and wreck dives, where
stronger currents attract larger marine life such as nurse sharks, reef sharks, eagle rays, stingrays, turtles and barracudas.

The uninhabited island of Ronde in the north of Grenada has impressive walls which are covered with corals, and those prepared to leave the main tourist centres in favour of Grenada’s sister island Carriacou can expect pristine reefs which are home to eels, reef and nurse sharks, rays and turtles.

TOP DIVES
A 40-minute boat ride east of the airport brings you to arguably the best wreck in the Caribbean. The Bianca C is a huge liner which sank in 1961. Dubbed the ‘Titanic of the Caribbean’, the wreck is around 200m long and offers the unusual opportunity to swim in a swimming pool 30m below the surface. Some of the superstructure has collapsed into the wreck, but for the most part it is intact, and home to sponges, black corals and schools of spadefish.

TOURIST INFORMATION:
Grenada Board of Tourism, http://www.grenadagrenadines.com

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY:
The Grenada Carnival, Spicemas 2004, takes place on 9 August 2004. There will be a range of events, including a pageant at the National Stadium.

TEMPERATURE:
Average temperatures range from 24ºC to 32ºC, with cooling trade winds. The lowest temperatures occur between
November and February. Water temperatures average 26–28ºC.

READERS VERDICT
‘Grenada certainly exceeded my expectations,’ says experienced diver Maria Bright. ‘I’d heard that Caribbean diving was dull, and while we didn’t find a huge amount of fishlife, there were turtles, crustaceans and gorgeous tube sponges. I liked Shark Reef, where we dropped down to about 20m and spotted nurse sharks hiding behind clumps of coral. But the best dive was the wreck of the Bianca C. It’s vast and atmospheric. We went down to 30m and finned along the length of the ship, making our way to the bow. There was all sorts of life but it’s the sheer size of the ship that makes this dive special. If you ever visit Grenada make sure you don’t miss this dive.’

St Lucia is the second largest of the Windward Islands, situated 175km northwest of Barbados. The Pitons, iconic twin peaks that cap its dramatic mountainous landscape, have often been described as among the most spectacular natural features in the Caribbean. The island is peppered with banana plantations and rainforest and classically Caribbean white sand beaches.

St Lucia has worked hard to develop its tourism over the last 20 years, which was given a considerable boost by the construction of its international airport, Hewanorra. Direct flights are available from London with Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and British West Indian Airways, while BMI offers flights from Manchester via Barbados.

There are many hotels, restaurants and marinas on the island, although much of the tourist accommodation is in a limited area on its west coast. This concentration of hotels allows visitors to take advantage of wide, untouched spaces on the other parts of the island. Organised sightseeing and
rainforest hiking tours are available through most hotels and travel agents. There are also lots of sporting opportunities other than diving, including sailing, horse-riding, tennis and golf.

THE DIVING
St Lucia is at the tip of an underwater volcano where hot-water vents provide ideal conditions for the exotic creatures usually found in the remote parts of the Caribbean. There is stunning variety of coral, sponge and marine life in its many reef walls, stunning rock formations, pinnacles, arches and trenches. Spotting frogfish and seahorses on St Lucian reefs is not unusual, but you are more likely to see large gorgonians, black coral trees, massive barrel sponges, turtles, nurse sharks, seahorses, angelfish, and golden-spotted eels, to name just a few.

Conservation efforts have helped to maintain and preserve the high-quality reefs here, with the formation of a large marine park and a number of artificial reef projects. The collecting of marine organisms, dead or alive, is prohibited and carries a hefty fine within the marine park, as does anchoring of boats or deliberate physical contact with the reef.

The most visited dive sites spread from the northern tip all the way to the west coast to the most southern point of St Lucia, with the best diving concentrated between Marigot Bay and Gros Piton. There is diving to be had in the south and southwest, but these sites are highly sensitive to weather conditions.

TOP DIVES
A favourite spots among divers is the stunning Anse Chastanet reef situated close to shore in the southwest of the island. This reef drops off to 30m, where you will find an abundance of plate coral. The wall continues from Anse Chastanet Bay around the headland of Grand Caille and towards the harbour of Soufriere, providing some of the best diving in St Lucia. This is a real treat for underwater photographers and night divers because of the very high concentration of life.

TOURIST INFORMATION:
St Lucia Tourist Board http://www.stlucia.org

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY:
Between May 30 and July 20, actors, musicians and partygoers get together for the St Lucia Carnival.

TEMPERATURE:
With highs of 32ºC in the summer months, temperatures drop to 21ºC in the winter. The island’s dry season runs from January
to April, while the rainy season runs from May to August. Water temperatures range from 26ºC to 31ºC.

READERS VERDICT
‘It’s a great place to learn because it’s warm, clear and there’s little current,’ says advertising sales manager, Jason Quirke, 33, who learned to dive during a two-week holiday in St Lucia. ‘I had done a few try-dives on other holidays, so I was keen to sign up to a course. I was staying at the Rendezvous Resort near the airport, which like many other hotels in the area operates a small dive centre. The corals are in really good condition, but there isn’t as much life as you would find in places such as the Red Sea. One of the best things about St Lucian dive centres is that they are very proconservation. All visiting or new divers are encouraged to take part in reef clean-ups, which are great fun and make you feel that you’re doing your bit.’

This Caribbean nation is made up of an archipelago of islands, situated between St Lucia, Barbados and Grenada. The rugged landscape of St Vincent, with its 1,220m-high active volcano and black, volcanic beaches contrasts with the smaller Grenadine islands and their vast white, sandy beaches. St Vincent’s harsh but stunning landscape is more suited to the adventurous traveller who can climb through the many banana and coconut
plantations, tropical forests and high bamboo to the rim of La Soufriere volcano. Its Botanic Gardens are the oldest in the western hemisphere, and on display is a breadfruit tree descended from the original plant brought from the South Seas by Captain Bligh of HMS Bounty.

The sailing waters of the Grenadines are said to be among the best in the world. Many yachts congregate at Union Island or the picturesque harbour of Port Elisabeth in Bequia, while en route to secluded areas of Mustique, Canouan, Mayreau, Palm Island, Petit St Vincent, Young Island and
Tobago Cays.

Accommodation throughout the country is predominantly in small, family-run establishments, offering exceptional levels of service. Hotels and guesthouses range from the modest to the luxurious. Many of the smaller islands have just one hotel offering the perfect tropical retreat while several private islands comprise exclusive, selfcontained resorts.

St Vincent, Canouan, Bequia, Mustique and Union Island all have airports with local scheduled and charter flights providing same-day connections with direct flights from Europe into Barbados, St Lucia and Martinique.

THE DIVING
There is good diving to be had throughout the country, which is as varied and full of contrasts underwater as it is above. The Grenadines are known for their populations of nurse and reef sharks. Sites around Bequia and Mustique are the best places to find the big stuff. St Vincent offers good
reefs in its calm waters and boasts large populations of black coral. Density of reef fish is high, especially the smaller reef inhabitants. The government of St Vincent and the Grenadines has taken an active role in trying to protect the island’s marine environment. Coral is protected; no visitor is allowed to spearfish, but local people and residents can still do so with a permit.

As with all the larger islands to the north of St Vincent, the dive sites are clustered along the western coast of the island and extend around the south coast. The most regularly dived sites extend only about halfway up the west side. The sheltered west coast creates ideal diving conditions, as
there is little current, and surface conditions tend to be calm.

It is easy to hop by boat from island to island, and this is certainly worth doing if you want to take advantage of the variety of dive sites. From St Vincent, a day trip by ferry to dive Bequia is quite simple to arrange. Some divers charter a boat as a way of diving all the islands. Many of the
operators offer a special dive package that allows you to dive with a number of different centres between St Vincent and Union Island in a more cost-effective way.

TOP DIVES
Anchor reef, near Kingstown in St Vincent, is a very popular dive because the odds are that you will see longlure frogfish and longsnout seahorses between 10m and 40m. There is always a good quantity of reef fish, but the reef is particularly densely populated when the current is running.
Barracuda patrol the wall and there are many creatures tucked inside. Orca Point, also in St Vincent, is a popular night dive with no shortage of macro subjects, including many shrimp, blennies, crabs and scorpionfish. The site was named after Orca Industries who were pioneers in the
development of dive computers. This site is a slope off the headland where currents bring nutrients to the reef.

TOURIST INFORMATION:
St Vincent and the Grenadines Tourist Office http://www.svgtourism.com

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY:
Regarded as the Caribbean’s hottest summer festival Vincy Mas is a festival of music which takes place between 25 June and 6 July 2004.

TEMPERATURE:
The average yearly temperature is 27ºC, with the coolest months between November and February. The rainy season runs
from May through October. Average water temperatures range between 26 and 30ºC.

Moving down the Eastern Caribbean to the south we come to the Leeward Islands. Excellent diving can be found in the waters here and as a whole, the islands are unspoiled by the tourism, which constitutes a large proportion of their income. The lack of direct flights, and careful planning, have
meant that tourist facilities complement rather than consume the islands.

The small island of Saba is not what most people would envisage when thinking of a Caribbean island, few beaches and a rocky coastline make a distinct change from the usual tourist islands. Known as the ‘Unspoiled Queen of the Caribbean’, the island is popular with hikers who come to
view Mount Scenery, a rocky mountain at Saba’s centre which rises to 980m.

Connecting flights are available through St Maarten. A limited range of accommodation is available from small guesthouses to luxury hotels

Nearby St Eustatius or ‘Statia’, as it is known locally, is larger than Saba and has plenty of diving. Like Saba, Statia has few beaches and hiking is the most popular pursuit for visitors. Oranjestad Bay on the west coast is home to the island’s capital, Oranjestad, which makes for an interesting
visit. At its centre is Fort Oranje which dates from the 17th century and offers wonderful views of the bay below.

As with Saba, connecting flights are through St Maarten. We’d recommend a two-centre holiday combining both Saba and Statia. Alternatively, a liveaboard might be an easier option allowing you take in both islands and several others in the area.

THE DIVING
The Saba Marine Park extends all the way round the island and offers 29 permanently moored dives sites. The introduction of the park has meant that Saba’s marine life is well protected, and the island’s worldwide reputation for excellent diving is genuinely deserved. Most diving takes place from boats and sites range in depth from 5 to 40m, with dives for all levels of experience. To the west of Saba are a number of volcanic pinnacles which attract jacks, snapper, nurse and black-tip sharks, turtles and schools of barracuda.

Saba’s varied underwater topography of drop-offs, pinnacles and walls means that there is a lot of different diving on offer. Divers can expect to see crustaceans, barracuda, nurse sharks, turtles and large schools of fish such as tuna and jacks.

While Statia has many scenic dives which offer similar life to that found on Saba, the island is also well known for its wrecks, ranging from 200 years old to new wrecks which have been sunk to form artificial reefs.

TOP DIVES
Just under a kilometre away from Saba’s west coast is the Eye of the Needle, one of three large pinnacles that form The Third Encounter dive site. Rising from 60m to 27m, the pinnacle is in pristine condition, with an abundance of soft corals, fans, sea whips and giant sponges. Both black-tip and reef sharks are often seen, as are turtles.

TOURIST INFORMATION:
Saba Tourist Board, http://www.sabatourism.com
St Eustatius Tourist Office, http://www.statiatourism.com

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY:
The Saba Summer Carnival in the last week of July combines street parades with calypso and pageants. See http://www.sabatourism.com/carnivalcalendar.html
TEMPERATURE:
The weather is consistently warm with average temperatures of about 27ºC. Rainfall is even throughout the year and the warmest period is in July. Water temperatures average 26–28ºC.

READERS VERDICT
‘I dived Saba, Statia and St Kitts from the Caribbean Explorer liveaboard,’ says experienced diver Adam Gold. ‘Generally speaking I’d describe the
diving as okay, but there were a couple of dives that were exceptional. The Eye of the Needle was wonderful. We jumped in above a plateau and finned off into the blue. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a huge stack appeared and we slowly circled around it gradually ascending from 45m. It was
covered in coral, and we saw a shark and a couple of turtles. Fishlife at Saba was profuse, but there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. While I enjoyed Saba, I preferred the Caymans, where I’ve also dived in the Caribbean. Having said that, Saba was still good, and cheaper!’

On the northwestern edge of our Eastern Caribbean tour, the Virgin Islands are divided into British and US territories. There are 36 islands under British control, the largest being Tortola (Turtle Dove), Virgin Gorda (Fat Virgin), Anegada and Jost Van Dyke.

Like most of the Eastern Caribbean, the British Virgin Islands’ (BVI) largest industry is tourism, the majority of visitors coming to enjoy the good-quality sailing and windsurfing. High prices, few flights and careful development of tourism have limited access to the islands which offer stunning
topography and perfect beaches. There are no direct flights from the UK, and most visitors catch connecting flights from San Juan, St Thomas, Antigua, St Kitts or St Maarten.

Topside attractions are many, on Tortola is Sage Mountain National Park, which at 1,718 feet is the islands’ highest point. Here there are ample hiking opportunities and the island group generally has an abundance of anchorages, reflecting its popularity with the yachting set. The U-shaped harbour at Road Town, Tortola’s capital city, provides a focus for tourist and locals alike who can visit the many restaurants and shops.

Virgin Gorda (Fat Virgin) was named by Christopher Columbus out of affection for the island’s feminine shape. It is most famous for the granite boulders that line its northern beaches.

Most visitors to the islands tend to stay on either Tortola or Virgin Gorda, where there is a wide range of accommodation on offer. While there is accommodation on some of the other islands, it tends to be limited as is access to dive centres. A number of liveaboards also operate around the islands.

THE DIVING
The fringing reefs which surround the volcanic islands that make up the BVIs offer a variety of very good diving, and much of the area is a national park. Mooring buoys are used extensively throughout the island group, which explains the lack of anchor damage. Most of the diving takes place at either the Sir Francis Drake Channel Islands to the southeast of Tortola or at The Dogs archipelago to the west of Virgin Gorda.

A mixture of reef and wreck (most notably RMS Rhone, see Top Dives) dives are available and you can expect to see large numbers of corals, sponges and fans. Fishlife is good, with a wide variety on view including angelfish, grunts, blennies, wrasse, jacks, parrotfish, snapper, grouper,
barracuda, soldierfish and squirrelfish. Pelagics, particularly nurse sharks, and rays are often seen and the islands are renowned for the high numbers of turtles.

TOP DIVES
One of the best wreck dives in the Caribbean – it vies for the title with Grenada’s Bianca C – is RMS Rhone, which lies off Salt Island in the Sir Francis Drake Channel Islands. This Royal Mail steamer, which sank in 1867, is broken into two areas, the bow and mid-section, and the stern. The bow lies at 20–30m and is home to a variety of life, particularly in the hold where there are angelfish, parrotfish, grunts and crustaceans. The mast and crow’s-nest are still on view. A second dive at the stern allows for a viewing of the gearbox housing as well as the rudder and propeller, where there is an interesting swim-through.

The British Virgin Islands
TOURIST INFORMATION:
BVI Tourist Board, http://www.bvitouristboard.com

DATE FOR YOUR DIARY:
The BVI Music Festival, a three-day weekend in May consisting of Calypso, R&B, reggae and jazz, for information see the website http://www.bvimusicfest.com

TEMPERATURE:
the weather is warm all year, with highs of 36ºC in summer and lows of 22ºC in winter. Water temperatures average 25–28ºC.

TOUR OPERATORS
Barefoot Traveller 020 8741 4319 http://www.barefoot-traveller.com
DIVEChannel 0870 880 2848 http://www.divechannel.co.uk
Divequest 01254 826322 http://www.divequest.co.uk
Dive Tours 01244 401177 http://www.divetours.co.uk
Dive Worldwide 01794 389372 http://www.diveworldwide.com
Explorers Tours 01753 681999 http://www.explorers.co.uk
Harlequin 01708 850330 http://www.harlequindiving.com
Regal Dive 0870 2201 777 http://www.regaldive.co.uk
Scuba Discovery 0870 420 5915 http://www.scubadiscovery.com
Scuba Safaris 01342 851196 http://www.scuba-safaris.com
FLIGHT OPERATORS
Virgin Atlantic http://www.virgin-atlantic.com
British Airways http://www.british-airways.com
BWIA http://www.bwee.com
KLM http://www.klm.co.uk
BMI http://www.flybmi.com