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Special dives
ActivitiesDIVE_WTDFJan10
Special dives
Grand Bahama’s most popular
A schoolteacher who made many weekend dives on Grand Bahama reefs found one that became her favourite, and now it’s known by her name–Ann’s Paradise.
The most popular dive requested at UNEXSO (Underwater Explorers Society) is a two-tank dive, according to Jaime Hanna. “It’s a daily dive that consists of a deep dive and a medium one,” Hanna says, “which can go to either a reef or a wreck site.”
UNEXSO offers trips to more than two dozen locations, including Pygmy Caves, Plate Reef, Littlehale’s Lair and Ann’s Paradise. Schoolteacher Ann’s favourite place to dive, UNEXSO says, is “a very pretty site with several large, tall coral pinnacles situated on top of coral ridges, [where] porkfish and yellowtail snappers are frequently seen.” That area is 45 ft down.
Littlehale’s Lair, lying at 60 ft deep, was named for National Geographic photographer Bates Littlehale. It has two small caves where the coral has grown over the surge channels. Divers can swim through one of those lairs. At 80-foot-deep Plate Reef, many plate corals overlap the surge channels, and a large blue hole “comes right out of the side of a high-profile coral,” according to UNEXSO.
In places such as these and others, as UNEXSO describes it, “Divers fin along in awe of Grand Bahama’s protected and lavish reefs, with coral heads, blue holes, caves, overhangs, crevices, ravines, arches, swim-throughs and caverns.”
Many other scuba divers have discovered their own favourites, thanks to dive masters such as Fred Riger, the operator of Grand Bahama Scuba. He has made nearly 15,000 dives here and shown divers the glory of these extensive reefs for almost 30 years.
While some well known dive sites are visited frequently, he says that “those in the know request Pygmy Caves, Littlehale’s Lair or Plate Reef for the deep dive of the day.”
Other Grand Bahama dive companies agree that the shark-feeding excursion is exciting. “Most visiting divers request the shark dive,” says Lisbeth Rutzou of Caribbean Divers, as well as Theo’s Wreck, Pygmy Caves, Tunnel West and the Sea Star wreck.
Divers can expect to see a wide variety of fish, including grouper, angel fish, jacks, trumpet fish, snappers, parrot fish, grunts, hogfish, wrasses and trigger fish. Turtles, crabs, moray eels, shrimp, lobsters, stingrays and a few reef sharks also inhabit these reefs.
Visibility ranges from about 70 to 120 ft, with an average of about 90 ft. Dive boats get to the best sites in 15 to 30 minutes.
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