Hi there, Scubaboarders. I will be sailing through the BVIs over Thanksgiving this year and plan to do some diving from our boat. Since I will have the freedom to go where I want, I am looking for some suggestions for good sites that may not be on the beaten path for the shops. Thanks for the help!
BVIs Unguided
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1erCRU
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Most of the known sites have a dive mooring and are listed in the available Dive guides, anything else will require anchoring and/or a watch crew hovering above. Some advanced sites I like and rarely see divers at : Brown Pants, the Chikuzen (check locally to see if the mooring is in place when you arrive), Grand Central, the Fearless, Twin Towers and Carvel Rock. These sites should only be done in settled weather. There are so many other sites and you can generally find something close by to dive that is protected from that day's wind & weather. Thanksgiving can be quite flat with little wind, great for diving but not for sailing, water temps in the low 80s even at 100'. BUT dive when and where you can, the weather can blow out many sites even the easy ones for several days.
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I loved both the Chikuzen and the Fearless when we did our trip to the BVI. I wouldn't be real keen on doing the Chikuzen from an unattended boat, though.
1erCRU
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Over the last few years it seems like the mooring on the Chikuzen has been missing more than it's been there. I've made the dive to tie-off the boat the lower part of that mooring, but this is not for everyone and only if conditions allow.
Good general practice is to have someone on board at ALL the sites on the outsides of the France Drake Channel, someone who can operate the boat AND the dinghy and the VHF. Have the dink in the water, warmed up & ready to go. A long drag line with a fender attached at the end also helps.
Maintenance on the moorings (including the popular overnight spots) is not perfect, make their inspection "job one" on every dive as you descend, or hook-up for the night.
There is no better way to dive the BVI than from the deck of your own boat, but you may need/want a rendezvous for a few of the more challenging sites.
Good general practice is to have someone on board at ALL the sites on the outsides of the France Drake Channel, someone who can operate the boat AND the dinghy and the VHF. Have the dink in the water, warmed up & ready to go. A long drag line with a fender attached at the end also helps.
Maintenance on the moorings (including the popular overnight spots) is not perfect, make their inspection "job one" on every dive as you descend, or hook-up for the night.
There is no better way to dive the BVI than from the deck of your own boat, but you may need/want a rendezvous for a few of the more challenging sites.
Thanks for the tips. The Chikuzen looks like a great choice and, even if I have to rendezvous, I will probably try to do it. The mooring situation doesn't sound perfect and I'd hate to get out there and find it missing (will check with the locals for the current status). Twin Towers and Carval Rock had also caught my eye -- never sure from the public info how well trodden some of these sites are.
No worries -- I will always have at least 2 people on the boat when diving (that's why we take non-divers, right!?) and I ALWAYS dive and inspect moorings before relying on them. Sometimes I see the best critters just diving the moorings! And point well taken about settled weather.
No worries -- I will always have at least 2 people on the boat when diving (that's why we take non-divers, right!?) and I ALWAYS dive and inspect moorings before relying on them. Sometimes I see the best critters just diving the moorings! And point well taken about settled weather.
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Carval Rock gets blown out sometimes. It did for us once in summer. So just go to Congo Cay nearby. Some of the other diving around Grass Cay is shallower and average. Technically Carval Rock is the USVI's also, not sure how that applies for immigration clearance etc. That's easier done on St. John. Mid-morning ten of us were through there in about 10mins.
If you want to rendezvous, you can't go wrong with DiveBVI. Good operation and they don't hold your hand unless asked to.
If you want to rendezvous, you can't go wrong with DiveBVI. Good operation and they don't hold your hand unless asked to.
Thanks, TSandM. Funny Gordon's suggestion to gear up in the water. The charter companies are always afraid that you are going to damage the gelcoat somehow with the giant stride when the real problem is wrestling the tanks on deck which happens anyway. Nice picts. Diversteve, we will be coming from the USVIs, passing either north or south of St John depending on the weather so maybe we do Carval Rock in transit, weather permitting, but coming from US waters. In any event, I think the immigration rules only apply to coming ashore and not to diving. I'll post from the brig if I'm wrong!
Thanks for the comments on the photos. I look at them and think how awful they are, and how far Peter and I have come as photographers since that trip!
1erCRU
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diversteve is correct that Carval Rock is in the USVI but I was referring to Carvel Rock (misspelled in my original post) between Cooper and Ginger Island. Both are NICE dives.
Over the years we have tried everyway to gear up, but settled on giant strides from each side deck of monohulls; thankfully we don't have to do that now with catamarans, simple step off the sugar scoops. The few times we tried to gear up in the water we made gear retrieval dives chasing loose/dropped stuff.
TSandM's excellent report reminded that the Rhone can get VERY crowded, especially with the cruise ship "divers" being dumped by the dozens on the site. You really don't want that experience.
My favorite time to dive the Rhone is early in the morning say 7-8am. We prep and stage all our gear on our overnight mooring at Cooper Island, then motor over to the Rhone grab a mooring and DIVE! Lot's of neat critters at that time of the day, before they have been chased away by the hoards. Take a light for the swim throughs. That's a magic time, you might get two dives in before another boat shows up. Of course you could make it a night dive.... that's really a magic time, same with the Fearless, which looks spooky even in the day time.
Over the years we have tried everyway to gear up, but settled on giant strides from each side deck of monohulls; thankfully we don't have to do that now with catamarans, simple step off the sugar scoops. The few times we tried to gear up in the water we made gear retrieval dives chasing loose/dropped stuff.
TSandM's excellent report reminded that the Rhone can get VERY crowded, especially with the cruise ship "divers" being dumped by the dozens on the site. You really don't want that experience.
My favorite time to dive the Rhone is early in the morning say 7-8am. We prep and stage all our gear on our overnight mooring at Cooper Island, then motor over to the Rhone grab a mooring and DIVE! Lot's of neat critters at that time of the day, before they have been chased away by the hoards. Take a light for the swim throughs. That's a magic time, you might get two dives in before another boat shows up. Of course you could make it a night dive.... that's really a magic time, same with the Fearless, which looks spooky even in the day time.
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