Zemi Beach House, Anguilla, St Maarten and St Barts

It would be easy to sail straight past Anguilla, St Maarten and St Barts without giving a second’s thought to their potential for scuba diving. But, these small, scenic islands actually offer a surprising diversity of underwater attractions.

Anguilla

Despite its size, Anguilla is home to a number of marine parks where seagrass meadows and coral reefs abound with life. Protected areas include Little Bay, Shoal Bay and Island Harbour, Sandy Island, Prickly Pear Cays and Seal Island, Dog Island, and Sombrero Island. Scuba diving in these protected sites promises healthy hard and soft corals, gorgonian sea fans, and sponges, along with conchs, lobsters, eels, angelfish, and grunts. Stingrays, eagle rays, and turtles can also be seen, along with larger fish species like tarpon, barracuda, and reef sharks.

Wreck diving in Anguilla

Within these marine parks and the surrounding waters, Anguilla also boasts a high concentration of shipwrecks, around nine of which are suitable for divers. Many of these wrecks were purposefully scuttled having been damaged during bad weather. The 1984 Hurricane Klaus, for example, resulted in the creation of popular wreck dives such as the Sarah, Ida Maria, and Commerce. Others met a more natural end, such as the protected El Buen Consejo wreck which went down in 1772 and features 29 cannons, numerous cannon balls, and three anchors. Additional noteworthy wrecks include the Oosterdiep, Catheley H, Meppel, and Lady Vie.

St Maarten

St Maarten’s southern coast plays offers much of this island’s diving, with around 35 individual sites. The Man of War Shoal Marine Park is a particular highlight for divers, covering almost 8,000-acres and offering some of the best marine biodiversity in the Caribbean. Brain coral, sponges, and sea fans litter the reefs around St Maarten, supporting macro species such as nudibranchs, frogfish, and blennies, as well as blue tangs, sergeant majors, surgeonfish, and chromis. Southern stingrays and eagle rays can often be seen, along with nurse, Caribbean, and blacktip reef sharks. Humpback whales and dolphins also pass through the area during their mating season. Popular dives include Mike’s Maze, Fish Bowl, and Big Momma, which is the best site for shark encounters.

Wreck diving in St Maarten

Divers can explore 11 wrecks around the coast of St Maarten, with HMS Proselyte being the most popular. The vessel struck the reef in the Man of War Shoal Marine Park in 1801 and now lies with its various guns, ballast bars and anchors scattered around the seafloor and encrusted in corals. Another interesting wreck in the marine park is the 60-metre Carib Cargo which was ‘lost’ for several years after it was scuttled, resulting in its nickname of the Carib Ghost. Other diveable shipwrecks along this coast include the Teigland, Porpoise, and Fuh Sheng.

St Barts

Like Anguilla and St Maarten, scuba diving around St Barts primarily focuses on the island’s marine protected areas, which were established in 1996. The reefs within these zones are healthy and diverse, featuring both hard and soft corals, as well as gorgonians, sponges, anemones, and more. And, as a volcanic island, divers can also encounter plenty of craggy outcroppings and coral-encrusted swim-throughs to explore, such as those at Coco Island Caves. Pain de Sucre – or ‘Sugar Loaf’ – is one of the island’s most popular dive sites, offering opportunities to spot some of the area’s bigger species, including schools of barracuda and big-eye jacks, as well as both reef and nurse sharks.

Wreck diving in St Barts

St Barts features a small selection of diveable wrecks, most of which are located on the island’s southwest coast. Kayali was a fishing trawler that now lies at a depth of 30-metres, offering multiple penetration routes for suitably certified divers. Resting upside down on the seafloor, the 61-metre Nonstop Wreck is said to be the remains of a luxury yacht that sank during a hurricane in 1989. The Marignan and Dakar wrecks are two more fishing vessels that can be explored by divers.