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Barbados – The Shipwreck Capital of the Caribbean
If exploring glorious underwater landscapes and interacting with a diverse range of sea life tickles your fancy, then a holiday to Barbados is exactly what you need!
While Barbados is famed for its white sand beaches, glistening warm waters and of course, it’s delicious rum, this beautiful island is also home to the healthiest reefs in the Caribbean and offers the perfect opportunity for wreck diving. Barbados is known as the Shipwreck Capital of the Caribbean, boasting a variety of wrecks that have developed over the years into fabulous artificial reefs attracting divers and snorkellers from all corners of the world. Read on to learn more…
Carlisle Bay Marine Park
Found on the south-west corner of Barbados, the Carlisle Bay Marine Park in Saint Michael boasts six incredible shipwrecks, less than 200 metres from the beach, the largest of which is over 36 meters long! The wrecks lay between 3 – 17 metres deep, tide dependent, making them perfect for a snorkel adventure.
This area is loved by tourists and locals alike and is commonly referred to as the underwater treasure of Barbados. The six shipwrecks in Carlisle Bay Marine Park create a vibrant artificial reef for marine life to thrive. So, whether you’re swimming, snorkelling, diving, freediving or paddling boarding, when you take to the water in the Park you’ll be close to marine wildlife such as sea fans, barrel sponges, parrot fish, angelfish, sea turtles and schools of dazzling tropical fish.
Folkstone Marine Park
Located on the west coast of Barbados, Folkstone Marine Park is home to an artificial reef, purposely formed from the sinking of the SS Stavronikita, a 365-foot-long ghost-ship freighter which lays about 1km from the shore. This shipwreck is one of the most famous dive sites in the Caribbean. The SS Stavronikita was sunk on purpose in 1978, so skilfully so that it lies upright, intact on a sandy bed.
While this particular shipwreck is suited to more experienced divers, the waters of the west coast are clear and calm, with visibility ranging between 50 – 95 feet, making it the perfect spot for snorkelling! Found half-a-kilometre offshore, the inshore reef in Folkstone Marine Park, is very popular for snorkelling, and is home to numerous fish and other marine life, including sea anemones, sea lilies, corals and sponges. Fancy something different? Book a catamaran trip out to the coral reef at Folkestone Marine Park and enjoy the magical experience of swimming amongst endangered sea turtles that are tame enough to be fed and touched.
When you’ve finished in the water, be sure to take a stroll around the Folkstone Museum, packed with information on the kind of sea-life you’ve just been interacting with, as well as an aquarium with many interesting and rare marine species, such as coral and sponges.
Conservation Efforts
Barbados understands the importance of marine life and the island is dedicated to protecting the rare and wonderful species that live in its waters. To support this, Barbados have implemented a number of conservation efforts on the islands including, the Barbados Sea Turtle Project. Sea turtles are fascinating animals and an important natural resource for Barbados. The Barbados Sea Turtle Project focuses on the conservation of the endangered marine turtle species that forage around and nest on Barbados. The Project provides a 24-hour Sea Turtle Hotline (230-0142) year-round which the public and visitors can use to call in information on turtles nesting, hatching of eggs, or lost or injured turtles. Project staff relocate nests made too close to the high tide line, rescue hatchlings disoriented by hotel lights, rehabilitate turtles that have been accidentally hooked or partially drowned in fishing nets and patrol high-density nesting beaches nightly during nesting season.
Coral is one of Barbados’ most important natural resources, it protects coastlines from storms and erosion, provides habitat and nursery grounds for fish species as well as jobs and income to the local economy from fishing, recreation, and tourism. The Coral Reef Restoration Alliance Barbados is a non-governmental, non-profit association established to foster conservation and restoration of coral reef ecosystems in Barbados. The Alliance is focused on reef restoration and conservation by consistently monitoring local reefs, growing and transplanting coral fragments and raising awareness about reef protection throughout the island.
For more information about Visit Barbados click here.
Fire on Monroe Bravo is the latest book in the Jack Collier series by Fred Lockwood. Our story begins with our lead characters, Jack and Sandro, owners of Marine Salvage & Investigation Company, arriving on the Monroe Bravo Oil & Gas Platform in the North Sea. Having secured a contract for their vessel the MV Stavanger to act as support ship to the platform for TransGlobal Oil, our protagonists are on a celebratory visit.
However almost as soon as they arrive a series of explosions rock the platform, causing huge damage, loss of life and the very real danger of a massive human, ecological and financial disaster.
As the danger mounts for both our heroes and the surviving workers, Jack and Sandro will have to escape the inferno, all while trying to save the platform and the men still trapped unable to help themselves.
The disaster sets the scene for the unfolding story lines following the fate of the platform and our main characters, the police investigation into a suspected terrorist act and the actions of TransGlobal Oil as they attempt to navigate the pubic outcry and financial repercussions.
In his eighth book, Fire on Monroe Bravo, Fred Lockwood delivers an explosive thriller, with plenty of above and in-water drama, and our heroes fighting for survival, what more can you ask for?
We thoroughly recommend this read and look forward to the next in the series. For more information about his book series, you can check out the reviews of his previous books here on Scubaverse.
- Title: Fire On Monroe Bravo
- Author: Fred Lockwood
- ISBN: 979-8325324536
Available in a paperback version and for Kindle from Amazon and book stores.
In June we were incredibly fortunate to be invited to dive in Alonissos, a small Greek Island in the Sporades island chain located in the North Aegean Sea. While I have long been a big fan of the Greek Islands as a great holiday destination, I had not had the opportunity to do any diving on previous visits and Mike and I were extremely excited to see what Alonissos had to offer both above and below the surface!
The Sporades are easily accessible via the airport in Skiathos (the first island in the chain), which is served by Jet2 flights from all major UK airports from May through October. Numerous ferries and charter boats make island hopping from Skiathos Town a breeze. After an hour boat ride, the picturesque port of Patitiri was a wonderful introduction to Alonissos, where we were met by our gracious hosts Kostas of Albedo Travel and Dias of Alonissos Triton Dive Center. Mike and I were delighted to be staying at the Paradise Hotel, aptly named for its stunning views over the sea and great location for walking to the waterfront.
Alonissos is beautifully situated in the National Marine Park of Alonissos and the Northern Sporades, the largest marine protected area in Europe. The surrounding seas offer fabulous marine life, including incredibly rare species such as the Mediterranean monk seal. They boast deep walls covered in gorgonians and sponges, stunning topography with caverns, swimthroughs and pinnacles, and the first accessible ancient shipwreck from 500BC!
In locations where historical sites have been reported, the waters are largely restricted, but with collaboration between government, underwater archeologists and dive centres, incredible underwater museums are being created for a truly unique diving experience. Alonissos is home to the first of these, the Ancient Shipwreck of Peristera Accessible Underwater Archeological Site. The chance to dive into history (along with reports of healthy reef life and amazing underwater topography) meant Mike and I were keen to get in the water.
Our introduction to the diving around Alonissos was at the Agios Georgios Pinnacles, in the channel between Alonissos and Skopelos. This fantastic site was named “The Chimney,’ and proved to have a huge amount to see. We got to a decent depth here (over 25m), and marvelled at a colourful reef wall with a wonderful swim through whose rocky walls were absolutely covered with life. As well as brilliant topography there was no shortage of macro life here. We saw numerous nudibranchs, five different species in total. The second dive at Mourtias reef nearby was a shallower dive along a nice wall with lots of crevices. Several moray eels and grouper called this site home. We enjoyed looking in the crevices for lobster and smaller benthic life, such as cup corals and tunicates.
Our itinerary allowed us two dives a day with afternoons left to explore the island with our hire car and evenings to enjoy the famous Greek hospitality. This proved to be a lovely mix of in-water and land based diversions.
The next days diving to the Gorgonian Gardens and Triton’s Cave was to be even better! These two stunning sites are nothing short of fabulous. The Gorgonian Gardens was a deep wall near to the Agios Georgios islands. The ever-present currents in this deep channel meant that the sea life was amazing … the namesake Gorgonian sea fans dotted the wall at a depth of 30 to 50 meters, getting ever larger the deeper we went. Above 30m was by no means less beautiful, with sponges, corals, scorpionfish, moray eels and some rare and colourful nudibranchs.
The second shallower dive of the day was to Triton’s Cave or the Cavern of Skopelos, on the east side of that island. The spectacular rock formations had wild striations both above and below the water making a truly epic topography. The cavern entrance was at 14m, and big enough for a buddy pair, winding up to 6m and passing two beautiful windows out into the blue. Emerging from the cavern, the light at the shallower depths and the incredible rock formations made for a fantastic gentle swimming safety stop and we all surfaced by the boat with massive grins.
Check out our next blog :Alonissos: The complete diving destination (Part 2)” to hear about our amazing dive on the 2500 year old Peristera Wreck!
Thanks to:
Alonissos Triton Dive Center https://bestdivingingreece.com/
Albedo Travel https://alonissosholidays.com/activities/
Paradise Hotel https://paradise-hotel.gr/
Alonissos Municipality https://alonissos.gr/en/
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