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St Lucia(by
David Cumber & Richard wilde) St. Lucia, lies in the chain of islands known as the Windward islands of the lesser Antilles, in the Caribbean. It is between Martinique and St. Vincent and is 26 miles long by 14 miles wide. This chain forms the break between the Caribbean sea and the Atlantic. The east coast (the Atlantic side) is not dived by the dive shops on the island. This is due to the rough conditions coming in from the Atlantic. In fact, most of the east coast is uninhabited. Most of the towns, and the capital Castries, lie on the west coast facing the much calmer Caribbean sea, where all the best beaches are. The islands interior is very rugged, and stray away from the west coast and you will find dense rain forests.
Southern sites (Marine park) The picture shows the beautiful 'Pitons', rising directly from the sea. Located in the marine park, the best diving area in St. Lucia. The pitons (Grande and Petit Piton) are famous for being on one of the Superman films (he does a fly-by) and one of the dives sites is named after this. The marine is patrolled, with the dive boats having to hand over admittance tickets to the marine inspector (the shops deal with this). Superman's flight
Pinnacles This dive site has four very large pinnacles, which reach to almost the surface from 22-26M. The pinnacle are several meters across, and in excellent condition. Either side of the pinnacles is a steep slope. Round the base of the pinnacles, the ground flattens out. Leaving a flat area around the 18-24M point. After this it becomes a steep slope again and goes to 40+M. So the topography on this site is varied. This is a good dive site for a multi-level dive, as you can drop onto the flat area, and then work your way up around the pinnacles. The pinnacles themselves are covered in sea fans, sponges and soft corals. The flat area between the pinnacles had a lot of schools of fish roaming around including creole wrasse, black snapper, damsel fish, squirrel fish. You will also see spotted moray ells, and possibly snake ells. One of the pinnacles lies very close to to the slope from the shoreline, and this forms a small swim through (it's not an archway). This is always full of fish, including a school of bright red soldier fish, but be careful with you fins, as the sea fans coming of the side of the pinnacle reduce the width considerably. With deep water either side of St. lucia, there is always a chance of seeing something big (as I've mentioned above), but I spent six months there and the biggest thing I saw was turtle. But, this is dive site where I nearly always saw a turtle, so well worth a dive. On the west end of the dive site, a load of rubber tyres have been dumped, they have been there a while as they are covered in sponges and algae, but still not a nice sight. One thing to be careful of here is when there is a strong current. With the pinnacles being so large they can cause massive eddies as the current flows through. This is quite obvious before you even start the dive, as the eddies can be seen from the surface. Best to choose another dive site if this is the case, as the current can change direction and may leave you forced to keep covering the same area as the current changes, and sometimes it can pull you down. In good conditions an excellent dive. Grand Caille For me, this was the best dive site I saw. A steep slope that at times is almost a wall, but as you head west along the site, the slope slowly flattens out to a depth of between 7-12M. Normally a bit of a drift dive, so you can cruise along the slope and then finish your dive on the shallow area. This site lies very close to the pinnacles, it is only a couple of minutes by boat in a straight line. This area has the most coral cover, (although don't expect a vast coral garden for the reasons mentioned above), and it is in excellent condition. Large barrel sponges, soft corals, sea fans. The fish life is good to. The schools of creole wrasse can be in there hundreds, and they do tend to play 'follow the leader'. You will see the whole school heading along the reef, in one long chain (head to tail), on there daily business. If you get in the way of the chain, they will simply swim over or around you, not breaking the chain. So you can be surrounded by them. The shallow area at the end of the dive has some massive boulders, which are a good hiding place for the soldier fish. You may even see the odd barracuda on the hunt. This area is a marine park, and there should be no fishing here. You will see lots of homemade buoys from the local fisherman marking there fish pots on other dive sites, and they also like to drop them on this shallow area. If you do see these, you can let the dive shop based in Anse Chastanet know about it and they will get the marine police to remove them. It's not a pleasant sight seeing the fish trapped inside. Anse Chastanet This dive site starts right from the beach. The site is based in a sheltered bay, surrounded by large cliffs. This bay is stunning, and it's no surprise a resort is there. This is really two dive sites in one. Firstly, from the beach, there is a gentle slope to about 10-12M, where there is a large plateau. From the sandy beginning it then turns into a large volcanic area with lots of gully's and channels. Lots of crabs and shrimps here. This dive site clings to the side of a cliff, and there is several small caves in this shallow water. It is hard to get close to these, as it is so shallow only 2-3M. With large surge here, you can get bashed against the rocks. Best snorkeled really. This whole plateau is good for snorkeling as there is so much fish life, and the visibility is normally excellent (15-30M). I was surrounded by tens of bat fish when snorkeling here. You will also see several hundred large fish from the 'barracuda' family (can't remember there name), cruising just under the surface in these shallows. Big eyes and BIG TEETH. Very cool. Now the second dive is a wall,
which drops off from the plateau. Large hard coral growths and good fish
life. This dive site does go deep, but again a nice dive site for multi-level
diving going deep on the wall then up to the shallow plateau. The resort
based here has a dive center with an excellent dive center, with a photography
center. With the good visibility, this is a nice area to try out a bit
of photography. Northern sites La Roche This is a small outcrop of rock a short boat journey from the shore, north of castries. This is one of the most northern dive sites on St. Lucia. Although not very deep (bottoming out at approx. 14 meters) there is little coral but mainly rock formations and these are frequented by an array of small fish. The most common being aggressive breeding sergeant majors!!! But what there is plenty of are caribbean lobster, crabs and shrimp not to mention several types of eels. Also, barrel sponges, and sea fans. With the shallow depth, there can be a let of surge here. Anse la Raye Wall A wall based near the town of Anse la Raye (the bay of rays), which is south of castries. This is approximately halfway to the marine park from castries, and one of five dive sites very close together. The wall does have some large gully's in it, that changes the scenery. Hard coral growth is quite good, and lots of fish life. Lots of parrot fish, Creole wrasse and the strange triangular cow fish. These are quite common here, a member of the box fish family, with really nice hexagonal markings. The wall slopes of quite deep, but after 25M, you have just a sandy slope. A few peacock flounders and some goat fish searching the sand. Virgins point This dive joins on to the west end of anse la ray wall. It comes round a point into a sheltered bay at bottoms of at around 12M. This bay shelters the dive site from rough seas and currents, and with the depth limited, it is often used for training. There are also two buoys with descent lines, that help in training, so this dive site can get quite busy. Most of the dive sites in St. Lucia have descent lines, so that the boats don't have to drop anchor. The site is mainly a sandy bottom, with one large area of hard coral growth. The sandy areas, have numerous sea whips, while the fish life tend to hug the coral area. You get these really spectacular sponges here, that are shaped like a vase and illuminious indigo. Schools of damsel fish (in there hundreds), in the shallows hiding amongst the rocks you may see octopus, moray and snake eels and lots of sea urchins. The visibility here can be excellent. This reef joins on to Anse Cochon, and on the tip where these two sites meet a turtle is a regular visitor. Anse Cochon Anse Cochon (pig bay) is much prettier than it's name makes it sound. This is another sheltered bay, with a shallow depth 8-14M, free from current and with excellent visibility. The reef starts in really shallow water 2-3M, from the beach, and hugs the side of the bay. So it also makes for excellent snorkeling. With it being such a nice bay...when it's busy, it's really busy. The large catamarans doing day trips up the coast stop here for some snorkeling, and if there are a few there, then they will be several hundred people in the water. Also, a popular place to take people for there first dive, due to the calm conditions. But don't be put off. A really nice dive site, with really clear water so the corals are vibrant in color. In the shallow water, you will find some really nice bright yellow brain corals covered in christmas tree worms. A large group of squid are often seen here in 2-3M meters of water, and a rather large school of sergeant majors hang out here to be fed by the snorkelers! On the sandy areas away from the reef you have the chance to see flying gurnards. If you head out to deeper water, you will get away from the snorkellers and be surrounded thousands (well it seems like that many) of damsel fish. A great dive site as it's so shallow, good for photography and ALWAYS something to see. Lesleen M This is a wreck dive, that lies in the deeper water of Anse Cochon bay. A trawler sunk on purpose to make an artificial reef, it has been striped of all oils and dangerous materials as well as some doors and hatches. The bow of the boat is on 19M, the stern on 20.5M, top of the bridge at 11M and it is approx. 50M in length. There are descent lines attached to the bow and the stern, so even if there's a surface current (which there quite often is), you don't drift away from the wreck on your descent. You wouldn't want to either as the surrounding area is just sand, so this is the main attraction to this site! Saying that, you may see some flying gurnards and there are large areas of the bottom covered in garden eels. The wreck has been there since 1986, so there is coral growth, and the fish life has really moved in and made it there home. On the bridge is a large school of soldier fish. Spotted moray eels, can be found all over, as well as many varieties of shrimps and crabs (including banded shrimps and yellow line arrow crabs). the really good thing about this wreck is that before it was sank, the main bay doors were removed, so it is safe to go right in the main bay. You can also swim around the bridge, but do be careful of your fins as there are a lot of sea fans here. Where divers have already been around the bridge, a lot of air is trapped on the roof, that gives the illusion of looking in a mirror. A nice affect, but do remember this will choke any coral it comes into contact with. You can also penetrate the wreck. There is a galley way and stairs, that links the main cargo bay to the bridge. The cargo door has been removed, but at the top of the stairs it gets quite tight...so if you are big take care you won't get stuck! Like any wreck there is a lot of potential things that can go wrong, and in this wreck there is a lot of sediment that can be stirred up and reduce visibly to nothing. So don't go in unless your are trained for it and have planned it. This is one of the best wrecks we have ever dived. Wreck dive Although difficult to locate
and not often dived there is a sunken Japanese cargo ship approx. 20 meters
in length resting at about 33 meters maximum (can't remember the name).
It is very calm and the ship was sunk fairly recently so it is in fairly
good condition. There is a buoy attached to the ship, but when there is
a current this disappears under the surface. But because it has not been
down that long there is virtually no sign of coral, only fans and other
plant life. But there is a variety of fish life including shoals of jack,
snapper and barracuda. Also spotted hiding amongst the bow was a huge
lime green eel with a neck like Mike Tyson's!! If you wish to dive it,
you really have to request it, and remember with the depth you bottom
time will be limited. |
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The
island is becoming increasingly more popular as a tourist destination,
but as yet is not as developed as some of the more well know islands in
the Caribbean, such as Jamaica or Barbados. That is not to say that there
aren't very large resorts, mainly offering all-inclusive holidays. Most
of the accommodation on the island is aimed at couples, honeymooners in
particular and not diver specific. If you need to get away from the larger
resort areas, there is plenty of small hotels and home stays on the islands
varying in quality and cost. Castries, Soufriere and Vieux Fort, the major
towns, have accommodation for US$30-45. The diving in St. Lucia is very
resort orientated, with each major resort having it's own dive center,
some running several boats. If you are not staying at the resort, then
it's highly unlikely you will be able to dive with them. There are independent
dive shops, offering daily trips, so no problem if you not part of the
major resorts. It is worth thinking about your requirements, as the diving
is part of the all-inclusive package. If you are after a holiday with
a bit of diving, the big resorts are worth a thought. But you can still
go for a full on diving holiday, if that's what you want. If you are diving
with the independent shops, they will arrange for transport for you to
Castries or Rodney bay (north of Castries), to meet with there boat. The
island is very volcanic, so fringing reefs are the most common. The dive
sites can be divided into two areas: the northern sites a short boat ride
from Castries, or the southern sites near the marine park near Soufriere.
Thankfully, the authorities are trying to protect the diving areas, and
have designated a marine park area near the Piton's (see picture below).
There is also a rule that divers are not allowed to wear gloves when diving
in St Lucia. This is enforced by some operators but not by others. My
view is that the water is nice and warm and not cold enough for you to
need gloves! So why do you need them. I hope you know what I am getting
at, there is no physical need for them. So any other reasons, appear to
be excuses to me. Divers who have a problem with this, should be reminded
how damaging it is for coral to be touched by us. The visibility can vary
from 5-30M, due to fresh water run off from the island. Water temperature
varies from 22-28C, depending on the season you are there. The cool season
is December- March. Storm season is during August-November, when diving
can be prevented by rough conditions. The Caribbean can be severely hit
by hurricanes during this season, coming in from the Atlantic. Luckily,
St. Lucia is not in the normal path of these, but the effects of this
can reach St. Lucia, creating large swells and leaving the dive boats
moored up in the marina's. Choose your time carefully.
The
site is based right underneath Petit Piton. The Piton rises directly from
the sea to several hundred meters up. The scenery below the the surface
is very similar, the dive site is a steep slope that goes on to 40+ meters.
The coral cover is very thin, but the fish life excellent. Part of the
problem, is that debris falls from the Piton and can damage coral growth.
Also during heavy rain falls, water will run straight off the piton, causing
a lot of sediment in the water which can choke coral. Still lots of barrel
sponges, brain corals and soft corals, but not much growth of branching
corals. This is pretty much true for the whole island, as the volcanic
nature of the island and fresh water run off will restrict coral growth.
The fish life, includes jacks. creole wrasse, sergeant major's. Occasionally
in the blue you can see wahoo and black fin tuna's, large stingrays and
dolphin fish (although I never saw any). Now this is called superman's
flight because of the film, but this dive site can have quite a strong
current, which will sweep along at quite a rate. The current is quite
nice as it doesn't tend to have any points where it will pull you down.