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Dive Fest Diaries – Day 4
Each year the magical, Caribbean island of Barbados holds a festival to celebrate scuba diving, free diving and marine conservation. This year, Nick and Caroline went along to see what it was all about…
Saturday 7th July: Day 4
Our fourth day at Dive Fest Barbados was supposed to see us diving the east coast of the island. However, news broke that a tropical storm was heading our way, and so it was with little hope that we headed to the east side of the island to see what diving conditions were going to be like. As expected, the waves had picked up and even the chance of going out on the boat to get some above water shots was impossible. So, the guys from Barbados Blue asked what we would like to do instead. We all said – Carlisle Bay! It is close to shore, easy to dive and, with visibility getting worse, it was the obvious choice of dive for us. So, we jumped back in the van and headed back the dock to jump on our boat and go diving.
Whilst the visibility was not great, we had an idea from our last visit to the Bajan Queen wreck and wanted to try something out. Enlisting help from Christie, we jumped in and swam back into the engine room. Nick was going to try getting a backlit shot of Christie. It took a while to get right, but it was worth the effort. We spent a bit more time trying out some shots that had escaped us on the last dive before heading back outside to photograph the schools of grunts and red snapper that hang-out around the prop.
On our second dive, the Barbados Blue team wanted to go back to the coral nursery, as we had seen 4 lionfish there the previous day. They grabbed their spears and safe container and our job was to spot them. They had moved away from their spot from yesterday, and so we spread out and started searching. It was not long before the first one was bagged, but it took us the whole dive to find the four we were looking for.
That evening we ate at the sumptuous Cin Cin by the Sea. A frozen chocolate cocktail from heaven as the sun set was the perfect way to end the day.
That was the end of our diving at Dive Fest Barbados, but there was one final day in the schedule. We got to see watch Barbados Blue launch their boat made from trash collected on the beaches, Kyle, our host from Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., try out diving for the very first time before heading to the closing ceremony to hear the final speeches, and listen to the success stories of many of the local kids and how they had learned to swim, freedive and get involved in clean-ups. We then watched the prizes being given out and most importantly, welcome the fact that Barbados will be doing it all again in 2019! We hope we can be there…
Want to join in on all the fun at Dive Fest Barbados 2019 – put the dates in your diary: 3rd to 7th July 2019
Equipment used:
- Nikon D800, Nauticam housing, INON Strobes
- Olympus OMD EM-1 mkII, Nauticam housing, INON Strobes
- Olympus TG5
BVI Wreck Week allowed us to dive several of the wrecks the BVI has to offer, as well as sampling some of the best reef sites too. Our previous blog focused on the wreck of the RMS Rhone, so in this one we will try to give you a taste of the rest of the diving on offer.
And there is a great deal of wonderful diving to tell you about. Our first day of diving did not offer the best visibility due to heavy rain earlier in the week. However, we were taken to a rugged dive site that had Caribbean and Lemon Sharks swimming all around us. If we had been able to see the usual 20m+ I am sure we would have been able to talk of dozens of sharks on the site.
The BVI has plenty of artificial reefs, created from wrecks deliberately sunk. A couple of these are artistic creations from Beyond the Reef. The Willy T is a pirate themed party boat sunk in shallow water that now has skeletons of pirates duelling on the deck and going about their dastardly ways. It is a lot of fun and once you have had your fill, you can head up onto the shallow reef. Shark-plano is a series of three planes that were damaged in a hurricane, that have been turned into shark species and sunk. Both these sites are perfect for the diver that loves a bit of Instagram appeal!
Wreck Alley has a series of three boats sunk to create a super dive site perfectly aligned for a single dive where you can explore them all. Moray eels can be seen free swimming along the decks, huge stingrays back the sandy seabed their home. Turtles cruise past as you make your way around and then up onto the reef for your safety stop.
On every dive we did we saw sharks which absolutely delighted us. The local dive shops seem to be particularly engaged in conserving the reefs, taking part in coral reef restoration, lionfish hunting, cleanups and logging their sightings. We were filled with positivity at the end of each day.
We hope that we can return to do it all again at BVI Wreck Week 2024!
Watch out for our full feature on BVI Wreck Week in the next issue of Dive Travel Adventures coming out in July.
For more information about BVI Wreck Week 2024 visit their website here.
Nick and Caroline were hosted by BVI Wreck Week
The Moorings provided their yacht for the week
Host Dive Centres:
You cannot talk about BVI Wreck Week, or diving in the British Virgin Islands, without spending some time on the jewel in their crown of wreck diving – the RMS Rhone. So this blog is going to be dedicated to a wreck dive that we were happy to dive three times on our trip and would have been happy to dive every day!
The RMS Rhone was a UK Royal Mail Ship wrecked off the coast of Salt Island on 29 October 1867 in a deadly hurricane. Now it is the most popular dive site in the region. The dive briefings for the site are filled with stories of the fate of the ship and some eye-opening tales since.
The wreck and surrounding area become the British Virgin Island’s first national marine park in 1980. Many of the underwater segments of the 1977 thriller The Deep were filmed on the Rhone, requiring actors Jacqueline Bisset, Nick Nolte and Robert Shaw to learn how to scuba dive.
You’ll need at least two dives to fully experience the RMS Rhone. The ship split apart on sinking and the bow drifted just a little before sinking. The two halves are about 100 feet apart with the bow sitting in deeper water (around 25 meters / 80ft). So you are best to explore the bow fully on a single dive and then head to the stern on your second dive.
Whilst the history, artifacts and stories from the movies are absorbing, as soon as we got underwater to dive her, it was the incredible marine life that had us hooked. Two seahorses had made their home right at the bow of the wreck. Stingrays lay buried in the sandy sea bed. The structure is covered in colourful corals and sponges. Schools of fish occupy the overhangs and metal remains. We saw sharks on all three dives and were treated to a huge spotted eagle ray gliding over the wreck. Lobsters waved their antennae at us from every crevice. Life is everywhere you look on this dive.
The marine park status has certainly ensured that this is one of the best wrecks we have dived in the Caribbean. Whilst we did not get the chance to do this – we bet it would make an awesome night dive.
Check out our next blog to find out more about the diving and watch out for our full feature in the next edition of Dive Travel Adventures Magazine in July!
For more information about BVI Wreck Week 2024 visit their website here.
Nick and Caroline were hosted by BVI Wreck Week
The Moorings provided their yacht for the week
Host Dive Centres:
Seahorse National Park announced on Eleuthera in The Bahamas
PADI Club invites Ocean Lovers on exclusive dive trip to Bonaire this September
BVI Wreck Week – Diving (Part 3)
BVI Wreck Week – Diving the RMS Rhone (Part 2)
Top 5 Caribbean Wreck Diving Destinations
Barbados – The Shipwreck Capital of the Caribbean
Caribbean Conservation in Action: Tagging Turtles in the BVI
Caribbean Conservation in Action: Coral Conservation during Covid
Jeff chats to… Christopher Bartlett, MD of Indigo Safaris, about scuba diving in Dominica and Mexico (3 of 5)
Curaçao Dive Site of the Month – Smokeys (Watch Video)
Jeff chats to… Dr Katey Lesneski from Coral Vita, winners of the Earthshot Prize (Watch Video)
