Diving & Marine Life
The reefs around Grenada provide excellent sites for diving. A popular dive is to the wreck of the Italian cruise liner, Bianca C which went down in 1961.
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Other dive sites include Boss Reef, the Hole, Valley of Whales, Forests of Dean, Grand Mal Point (wall dive), Dragon Bay (wall dive) ends at Molinière, Happy Valley (drift with current to Dragon Bay); three wrecks from cargo ships off Quarantine Point, St George’s, are in strong currents; Molinière reef for beginners to advanced has a sunken sailboat, the Buccaneer; Whibble Reef is a slopey sand wall (advanced drift dive); Channel reef is a shallow reef at the entrance to St George’s with many rusted ships’ anchors; Spice Island reef is for resort dives and beginners as well as the wrecks Red Buoy, Veronica L and Quarter Wreck. Dive sites around Carriacou include Kick Em Jenny (a submarine volcano), Isle de Ronde, Sandy Island, Sister Rocks (to 100 feet, strong currents), Twin Sisters (walls to 180 feet and strong currents), Mabouya Island, Saline Island (drift dive).
Dive Centres
Dive companies change locations and resort affiliations rapidly, but there is usually one at any of the larger resorts. Dive Grenada is at Allamanda Beach Resort, T4441092, F4445875, www.divegrenada.com, PADI courses, wreck dives for experienced divers, night dives, snorkelling. Grand Anse Aquatics at Coyaba Beach Resort, in Grand Anse, offers PADI courses, snorkelling, kayak and sunfish instruction, T4441046, F4444808. Sanvics Watersports, Renaissance Grenada Resort, is an all-inclusive operation with trips to islands, T4444371, ext 638, F4445227. Scuba Express at True Blue Inn, has a custom designed dive boat with groups limited to 10 and a fully equipped dive shop, T4442133, F4441247. Scuba World at the Rex Grenadian, T4443333, ext 584, F4441111. 1st Spice Divers Grenada, at Secret Harbour and the Moorings, Lance aux Epines, T4441126, F4441127, www.spicedivers.com, operate from a pier at Mount Hartmann Bay with a 30-foot boat, courses offered in English, Dutch, German, French and Spanish. On Carriacou both dive operations are German speaking: Tanki’s Watersport Paradise, at L’Esterre Bay, Carriacou, T4438406, F4438391, and Carriacou Silver Diving at Main Street, Hillsborough, T/F4437882.
A basic scuba dive costs about US$35-40 per person, a two-tank dive is US$60, resort course US$50, snorkelling trips US$16; dive packages and open water certification are available. Several charter boats doing day trip sailing excursions also offer scuba equipment.
Snorkelling equipment hire costs about US$12 for three hours, sometimes for a day; again, there are plenty of opportunities for this. Glass-bottomed boats make tours of the reefs. The Carriacou Islander is a 35-foot motor catamaran with an observation window which can be raised or lowered as required and cruises around Carriacou and Petit Martinique.
Humpback whales can be seen off Grenada and Carriacou during their migrations in December-April. Contact Mosden Cumberbatch (see below) for whale watching tours. Pilot whales and dolphins are also found in Grenadian waters (see Whale and Dolphin Watching by Erich Hoyt at the beginning of this book).
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