Diving in the British Virgin Islands
Last summer (2003) I spent 10 weeks in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) teaching marine biology and scuba to junior high, high school, and college students while living on a catamaran (http://www.odysseyexpeditions.org/). During the summer I made 85 dives at a variety of sites. If anyone is interested in learning more about Odyssey Expeditions programs, please let me know. Here is my report of the diving in the BVI.
Mark McGinley
The British Virgin Islands is perhaps best known as a prime destination for a sailing vacation rather than a dive trip. Although it is true the Drake Channel provide an ideal environment for sailing, there is a lot of worthwhile diving to do while you are there.
Most of the dives in the BVI take place on pinnacles that either rise near the surface or reach above the surface to make small islands. Thus, most of the diving is on rocks covered by coral rather than on coral reefs. Because there is really no wall diving in the BVI, most dives are relatively shallow which can allow for long bottom times providing lots of opportunity for slowly exploring every nook and cranny. The visibility ranged from OK to great and the water temperature was a perfect 82 degrees all summer long. The currents ranged from non-existent to pretty swift, but generally the current was not a factor. My favorite dive sites were the Indians, Angelfish Reef, The Chimneys, Mario’s Wonderland, and Blonde Rock (for descriptions of the dive sites of the BVI check out Odyssey Expeditions’ web site).
The marine life is diverse and abundant with lots of hard and soft coral, a great variety of tropical fish (both large and small), plenty of marine invertebrates, as well as the occasional sea turtle, spotted eagle ray, or shark. The biological highlights of my dives were (1) observing two sea turtles mating, (2) watching schools of bar jacks, horse-eyed jacks, and tarpon attaching huge schools of silversides (schools of at least eleventy million silversides were common), (3) watching a coney (a sea bass) and a moray eel hunting cooperatively, and (4) having an eagle ray glide past as I taught an open water class (we sure don’t see them at Balmorhea).
The British Virgin Islands offers some of the best wreck diving in the Caribbean, so it might be a dive destination in itself for fans of warm-water wreck diving. The most famous wreck in the BVI is the RMS Rhone which sank in 1867. The Rhone was featured in the movie “The Deep” (I know that most guys find it hard to remember the wreck after seeing Jacqueline Bisset in her wet t-shirt). The ship sits in two main pieces; the bow lies in about 80 feet of water with the stern section at about 30 - 40 feet. Thus, most dive shops do the Rhone as a two-dive trip, diving first on the bow and then diving on the stern. In addition to the exploring the wreck on these dives (which is still in pretty good condition), the wreck attracts a lot of life so we commonly saw sharks and sea turtles when diving the Rhone. Once when I swam past the propeller I found myself face to face with a free-swimming 4 foot nurse shark (I don’t know which of us was more surprised). It is worth a side-trip to Salt Island to see the cemetery where some of the victims of the Rhone disaster are buried)
My favorite wreck dive in the BVI is the “Chikuzen” which lies far from any of the islands. Diving the Chikuzen can be difficult if the conditions are not right, but large pelagics such as barracuda, amberjacks, sharks, and wahoo are common so the dive is well worth the effort. There is supposed to be a resident grouper (Goliath Grouper) that weighs over 600 pounds, but I never got to see him.
Other wrecks in the BVI include “The Fearless” which is located at the bottom of a mini-wall at about 75 – 80 feet. This wooden wreck is encrusted with a variety of species. The coral on the reef above The Fearless is among the best in the BVI and I saw more black coral there than I have anywhere else I have been diving. The “Mary L.” and “Pat” are two ships that were placed near each other back in the 1990s. They are at a depth of about 85 feet. My favorite part of diving these wrecks was observing the colony of garden eels inhabiting the nearby sandy bottom.
Overall, I had a wonderful time in the BVI. I think that chartering a sailboat and sailing around the islands would be a great way to spend a holiday for couples, a group of friends, or an extended family. In addition, there are a number of beautiful resorts in the BVI as well. Thus, I think that the British Virgin Islands are an ideal location for a vacation that includes sailing, island hopping (my favorite island was Anegada) sight seeing (don’t miss The Baths), spending a lazy days on the beach, and diving.
We are interested in your dive experiences. If you would like to share information about places you've been, please email us at texas@scubafied.com
