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Virgin Gorda
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Chikuzen Wreck |
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Thanks to her distance from the landmasses, the Chikuzen sees a fraction of divers the Rhone enjoys. Back in 1981, the 246-foot Korean refrigerator ship's engine stopped working. As a storm approached, the order was given to set her afire and scuttle her. When she didn't immediately sink, the locals got nervous and dispatched a tugboat to steer her clear of land, where she sank eight miles north of Virgin Gorda.
But who says remoteness is a bad thing? Gear up quickly and be the first diver on your boat into the water, and you stand a good chance of seeing a handful of reef sharks patrolling the wreck. Expect thick masses of tomtates, snappers, jacks and spadefish crowding the hull, which is slowly gathering a furry coat of corals and sponges. A school--yes, a school--of barracuda forms a silvery curtain, stacked from the surface, past the top of the wreck at about 40 feet nearly to the bottom at 75. One of the best dives in the BVI, due to its remote location, this site should only be attempted with our experienced dive instructors.
A 246 ft refrigeration vessel originally built in Shimizu, Japan, she was part of the fishing fleet in St Maarten. The propeller of the Chikuzen had been damaged in a storm 2 years prior and so she was moored at the fishing fleet dock, apparently causing quite a bit of damage to the dock.
The owners were afraid that she might cause further damage or break free and drift up onto the beach (a vessel of this size would be very expensive to re-float). She was intentionally set ablaze off the docks in St Maarten, but this stubborn vessel refused to sink, eventually reaching the BVI, threatening to beach itself on the small island of Marina Cay. She was taken under tow and eventually sank without threatening any further coastlines !
Situated 12 miles NE of Virgin Gorda surrounded by miles of sand, this is the only place for marine life to congregate. Regular visitors include schooling barracuda, horse-eye jacks and snapper; stingrays; eagle rays; african pompano; atlantic spadefish; nurse sharks and blacktip reef sharks along with a resident 600lb jewfish.
This is a challenging site due to regular swells in the 3-5ft range - please check with the dive shop regarding current conditions.
Finally, due to the unstable refrigerating piping inside the vessel, please do not penetrate the vessel.
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The Aquarium |
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A popular dive site trip from the Yacht Harbor, it makes an excellent 2nd dive after a trip to Ginger or Cooper Island. A shallow sandy bottom is decorated with a expanse of granite boulders similar to those found at The Baths, some rising to within 10 ft of the surface. An oasis in the middle of the ocean floor, it attracts some of the largest schools and varieties of reef fish anywhere in the BVI. Its lack of depth gives divers time to explore the ledges and holes between the boulders while admiring the schools of grunts (french, spanish, bluestriped, tomtate), snappers (gray, mahogany, schoolmaster), chub, angelfish (queen, french, gray, rock beauty) and many others. An excellent area to look for lobster and eels, we are often treated to a visit from a stingray or nurse shark. Local currents can strengthen making the dive not always available.Just between Spanish Town and the Baths is a shallow shoal of a reef with pillar coral formations, shy schools of French grunts and moray eels tucked under ledges. It's not a large site, but a slow circumnavigation and thorough exploration of the reef should use up a tank. The Aquarium is rather densely textured with lots of rocks and boulders piled up on one another creating a network of small grottos and dens filled with fishes. Sergeant majors, blue tang and chromis fill the mid-water region. Sponges, fire coral and various crawling invertebrates cover the rocks. Nurse sharks can be found napping under the larger ledges.
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Blonde Rock |
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DEPTH: 10-65 FEET
Located between Dead Chest and Salt Islands, Blonde Rock offers good visibility, lots of big fishes, fascinating topography, a taste of adventure, and photo opportunities galore. Blonde Rock is a set of two pinnacles, out in the middle of nowhere, that rise from 60 feet to within 15 feet of the surface. Occasionally current-swept and the only topographic feature of any significance in the Salt Island Passage, Blonde Rock is a natural magnet attracting all kinds of marine life including turtles, schools of jacks, cobia, barracuda and even the occasional shark. The twin fire coral-encrusted peaks (hence the "blonde" designation) rise from a gorgonian-covered plateau at 35 to 40 feet. All the way around this sheer-walled plateau is an amazing system of undercuts, ledges, canyons, tunnels and companion rocks. With a flashlight, the brilliant colors of the sponges, coralline algae and cup coral will leap out at you. The craggy upper lip of the wall is adorned with sea fans, deep-water gorgonians and a strange green-stalked colonial hydroid. After fully exploring the extensive undercut and the bowl itself, with its school of brilliant yellow French grunts, climb out of the back of the bowl and stop at the pit right at the edge. A small cave in the back of the pit hosts a perpetually spiraling school of glassy sweepers.Seen here: blackbar soldierfish, schools of chub, horse-eye and bar jacks, creole wrasse, tomtates, coneys, parrotfishes, angelfishes, triggerfishes, pelagics, glasseye snapper, graysby, large crabs
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Coconut Reef |
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45 ft
This dive sites consists of 20-30 ft coral heads, teeming with marine life. Home to two resident eagle rays, it is also common to see a school of no less than 200 chub
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Coral Gardens |
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DEPTH: 15-35 FEET
Coral Gardens is a friendly site on the northeast side of Dead Chest Island. There are scores of large coral mounds capped with beautiful and healthy formations of brain, star and sheet corals. Filefishes, chub, large snappers and barracuda patrol the mid-water realm, while goatfishes, grunts, damselfishes and squirrelfishes inhabit the reef structure along with large sea fans and beautiful gorgonians. Numerous overhangs host brightly colored encrusting sponges and jawfish live in burrows in the sand. Closer to shore there is a long overhang.
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Dead Chest West |
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DEPTH: 15-55 FEET
This is a fun knock-about dive on the west side of Dead Chest Island. While a tour will guarantee you see all the highlights, Dead Chest West is a good place to follow your own nose and make your own discoveries. Just be sure you explore the shallows at the end of the dive.
Directly behind the boat, along an unobtrusive spur-and-groove formation, is a low ridge with an archway. Schools of brightly colored grunts inhabit the arch and shy mahogany snappers will drift off as you approach. Under the overhang, look for beautiful encrusting sponges, fairy basslets swimming upside down, and the antenna of small spotted lobsters. A light will help. There are several other overhangs in the vicinity. Following the next sand groove towards the shallows, you'll encounter some high rocks with lobster dens at their bases. Nearby is a spectacular mushroom-shaped coral head that sprouts up from the bottom. Redspotted hawkfish, wrasses, gobies and chromis all buzz around its top. Juvenile Spanish hogfish operate an active cleaning station here; sit back and watch the patrons come in and take their turn.
The dramatic topside cliff face continues underwater and a slow cruise along it will reveal a fascinating topography with a few surprises. There are two caves. One has a triangular opening and is filled with glassy sweepers and banded coral shrimp, as well as a few spiny urchins. The other, at the far end of a large bowl, cuts into the back of a mammoth monolith. A large, green moray eel is often resident. For divers who enjoy shallow water exploration, there is a fascinating maze of alleys, arches and ravines just past the second cave.
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The Invisibles |
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60 ft
A submerged pinnacle rising to within 4 ft of the surface, this is a spectacular dive. Prolific sponge and soft corals give the reef tremendous color. Washed with strong currents, this brings in huge volumes of fish - look out for the large school of permit atop the pinnacle.
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Mountain Point |
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70 ft
Located to the northeast of Mahoe Bay and Mango Bay in the lee of Virgin Gorda peak, this area has three separate moorings. Closest to the end of the point is the deeper location - the mooring lies in 25 ft of water and the reef slopes away to the west to a maximum of 70 ft. The sand at the bottom of the slope is visited by eagle rays and stingrays while the shallows around the mooring contain a number of swim-throughs and shallow grottos. The moorings closer to land are shallower (max 40 ft) and are made up of more grottos, archways and undercut coral heads
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