Anguilla Trip Report

[Tim Ingersoll]

Spent a week in Anguilla January 8-15, 2013 and did my 300th dive! I celebrated with a little bit of rock jumping during the interval IMG 1047 - YouTube A visit to the island was just another stop in my bucket list quest to dive all of the islands in the Caribbean. We rented a villa which you can read about here if you are so inclined (Almond Tree Villa Panoramic Ocean Views and Pool - Anguilla Villas - TripAdvisor). I knew from a little bit of reasearch on the board that Anguilla was not known for its diving but I am loathe to go anywhere I can dive and not at least get wet. I dove with Shoal Bay Scuba (Shoal Bay Scuba - Anguilla Scuba Diving) on a three day two tank package but only ended up getting in a total of four dives over three days. All of the dives were wrecks within a ten minute boat ride of the harbor at Sandy Ground. We dove the wrecks: Oster Deep, Meppel, Kathlee H and the Commerce. I would have to say the most interesting was the Meppel since it was a ship that had previously evacuated troops from Dunkirk druing World War II. We saw some turtles, one reef shark and a spotted eagle ray over the four dives. Visibility is the issue in Anguilla. The water is shallow (60-80 ft.) for many miles around the island so any disturbance at sea craps up the vis for days. Two of the dives were 25 foot or less vis and we scrapped the second dives on those days. The op was great. The diving was easy. Not a dedicated dive destination but worth diving for a day or two if you are there. Its a quiet island with a lot of great restaurants.

 

[drrich2]

I've been interested in what the diving off Anguila was like, and enjoyed your report. Some thoughts:

1.) Of your 4 dives, all were wreck dives. Is that because you like wreck dives, or that's what the op. prefers to offer, or does Anguila lack good coral reef diving? Or perhaps those were the sites that were most workable when viz. was bad?

2.) Since viz. can get seriously degraded (bad news for a potential dive destination), I wonder about how much of the time viz. is so compromised. And whether it's seasonal.

Richard.

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

The wrecks were sunk on purpose and are a short boat trip from the harbor. Fuel is expensive. You do the math. Wreck dives are ok with me but I usually get bored around the half hour mark. I think Anguilla is surrounded by a sort of shelf that is relatively shallow. It makes the vis dependent on the wind so I don't think its seasonal. There are reef sites on the their website but they didn't offer them up as options. Please remember though that I am about as laid back as a diver can be. I don't object to letting them choose the sites. It was worth getting wet for sure and the rock jump made a great 300 celebration!