CaribbeanTravel.com Directory - (Page XV) destroyer, the M/V Captain Keith Tibbetts; Little Cayman’s Bloody Bay Wall, which drops to 1,200 feet; and, off Grand Cayman, diving with stingrays at Stingray City and finning to Amphitrite, a bronze mermaid in 55 feet of water. The marine park that encircles the tiny island of Saba includes 38 dive sites with deep pinnacles, underwater lava flows, walls, spur-and-groove formations and giant boulder gardens. There are 30 dive sites on St. Vincent’s leeward shore, noted for seahorses and frogfish. The best sites are New Guinea Reef sloping to 90 feet, and Anchor Reef with black coral gardens. A CORNUCOPIA OF CORALS In the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Croix’s waters host the North Shore Wall plunging to 13,200 feet, and the Northstar Reef with brain and staghorn coral. The waters off St. Thomas feature the coral-covered pinnacles of Sail Rock and French Cap, plus the wreck of Cartanser, Sr., a WWII cargo ship in 35 feet of water. The numerous tunnels at Thatch Cay, Grass Cay and Congo Cay will intrigue divers. In the British Virgin Islands, key dive spots are the caves encrusted with orange cup coral and red sponges on Norman Island; and the Indians, rock pinnacles resembling Indian headdresses off Pelican Island. The R.M.S. Rhone, a 310-foot royal mail steamer sunk in 1867 off Salt Island, is a popular wreck dive. Turks and Caicos offers an extensive reef system 65 miles across and 200 miles long. Popular dive sites include the black-coral formations at Black Forest; dramatic walls at North West Point and West Caicos; and the 140-foot British warship Endymion, sunk in 1790 off Salt Cay. Tobago’s 41 dive sites offer more than 300 species of reef fish plus a wide variety of larger pelagics. Highlights include Kelleston Drain, home of one of the world’s largest brain corals. Reef and wreck diving for all levels can be found on the island’s west coast, while the eastern coast’s strong currents are well-suited for drift diving enthusiasts. Dive diversity is the hallmark of The Bahamas. Of note are Benjamin’s Blue Hole; a bomber airplane used in the James Bond movie “Thunderball”; and Tongue of the Ocean, a deep canyon between New Providence and Andros islands. Divers can swim with wild dolphins or toothy sharks for further excitement. I —Kathleen M. Mangan DRIFT DIVING Drift diving is renowned in Cozumel, where constant south-to-north water currents take divers gliding past coral formations. There are 37 dive sites featuring limestone caves, tunnels and swimthroughs.The most popular reef for diving is Palancar, with its monster coral heads. Divers can also explore great mounds of coral and see underwater sculptures of Christ and the Virgin at Chankanaab National Park, face off with great grouper and moray eels at Tormentos, or plunge 120 feet into the brilliant green abyss of San Francisco. Aruba, Belize, Bequia, Grenada and Tobago, among others, also offer opportunities for drift diving.
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