Grenada
Anguilla's turquoise waters boast seven marine parks: Dog Island, Prickley Pear, Seal Island Reef System, Little Bay, Sandy Island, Shoal Bay Harbour Reef System and Stoney Bay Marine Park. Dive sites include wreck dives, shore dives, mini wall dives, night dives and heritage diving. Anguilla is known for its intentionally sunk shipwrecks. The island is home to a truly unique attraction, a 960-ton Spanish galleon, El Buen Consejo, that rests on the ocean floor with its cannons and cargo serving as a silent testament to the Caribbean's turbulent past. Anguilla also boasts a healthy double reef system, where a wide variety of corals flourish.
Weather: About 80 degrees year-round.
Average Water Temp: Mid-80Fs in summer in the north, dropping to mid-70Fs in winter. Dive season is year-round.
Average Visibility: 100-plus feet.
Travel Savvy: A passport and onward or return ticket is required. Anguilla is 20 minutes north from French St. Martin by ferry. There are a number of options available for getting to the island. Visitors can fly directly into Anguilla's Wallblake Airport from Puerto Rico via American Eagle/American Airlines and LIAT, or opt to fly directly to St. Maarten, Antigua, St. Thomas or St. Kitts for easy transfer to Anguilla
Destination Links: www.anguilla-vacation.com and www.ahta.ai.
Grenada is a beautiful Caribbean destination. It has all the elements — warm, clear water, beautiful reefs, great marine life, and some truly amazing wrecks — to turn the heads of jaded "been there, done that" divers. The island has more than 30 named dive sites conveniently clustered along its southern tip — none more than a 30-minute boat ride away regardless of whether they fall on the Caribbean or Atlantic sides of the island. Purple Rain is a beautiful example of the Caribbean side. With a maximum depth of 80 feet, it's a healthy collection of brain, star and pillar corals, decorated with colorful gorgonians and sponges and crowded with the usual reef fish suspects. Shark Reef on the Atlantic side has many of the same elements, just in different proportions.
But the island is renowned for its wealth of wreck diving. The Bianca C — the Titanic of the Caribbean — is a 600-foot luxury liner that holds the title of the Caribbean's largest wreck. There are many more sunken vessels to explore, like the Veronica L, Shakem and King Mitch. Throw in a two-tank day trip to Isle de Ronde, an uninhabited rock off the island's north end, and you have more than enough underwater excitement to fill a week's worth of land-based diving.
Dive Conditions: Drift diving is the norm when diving Grenada. Depending on the site, currents can range from a gentle drift to a blistering three-and-a-half knots. Expect visibility between 30 and 100 feet depending on the site and season. Water temperatures range from winter lows of 79 degrees to summer highs of 84.
Weather: Temperatures range from 75 to 87 degrees. June to December is the rainy season, resulting in brief rain showers that blow through quickly. Diving and visibility are usually unaffected.
