DIVES SITES - PROVIDENCIA

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The Convent:

Located in front of the Fresh Water Bay, this site is reached using the triangulation between Tapou Point and Maria Inmaculada School (The Convent) as a land mark.

Descending through the buoy’s rope, one reaches 50 ft, where a big sand hole, surrounded by a big coralline shoal, is found. One borders this shoal until the cliff, where it is possible to choose between continuing the descent until an accorded depth or doing a shallower immersion through the border at 60 ft. Coralline formations are characterized by growing as mounds of star boulder (Montastrea) and brain coral; in the steep slope, Agaricia shingle reef is present. A great diversity of Hamlet fishes is observed, specially the Providentian or Mask Hamlet (Hypoplectrus providencianus), which was first described on this island. It’s a relaxing dive with frequent sightings of big snappers or turtles.

Tete’s Place:

Coralline shoal of great beauty, shallow and close to the shore, perfect for the beginner immersions. A rocky bottom interspersed with coralline sand and inhabited by a reef community dominated by beautiful specimens of pillar coral (Dendrogyra cylindrus) mixed with octocorals and large schools of fish, at 15 ft of depth. A step like formation of no more than 10 ft high is separated from a sandy platform covered by a sea grass and algae meadow (displaying species of Syringodium, Thalassia, Ripocephalus, Udotea and other). During the dive, one follows the rocky step, in whose cracks and crevices innumerable organisms are hidden; when the smoothly descending step meets the sandy and grassy bottoms, one returns to the buoy and ascends. Morays are frequent; the large schools of fish (blue stripped grunts, snappers, squirrel fishes) barely elude the divers who swim among them. An easy diving site, placid and safe, excellent for taking pictures.

Three Little Houses:

It’s a coralline platform that descends smoothly from 50 to 80 ft, where a more inclined slope begins and drives towards a sandy bottom at 130 ft. It has luminous blue waters due to the bottom clarity. The most interesting characteristic of Three Little Houses, so called because of the three houses that served as land reference points to locate the site (before GPS and buoys), is the great amount of crevices that furrow the calcareous platform and, in the slope, they form fissures in which mid sized fishes take refuge. These crevices and fissures are evidence of chemical erosion on the platform (called karstic processes by specialists), formed by ancient tunnels and subterranean river beds which caused this type of erosion thousands of years ago, when the sea level was much lower.

Snapper Shoal:

In the middle of the intensely blue waters, resulting from the reflection of the light over the white sands at the depth of 45 ft, one descends until a sandy underwater platform of disperse stony and soft corals. A few meters to the west, one encounters a little wall of 10 to 18 ft that leads to another sandy platform at 65 ft. The wall, perpendicular, with numerous cracks, projections and rocky openings, densely covered by reef organisms brilliantly colored by the effect of the shadow, constitutes the principal attraction of the site. The great landscape beauty, appreciable thanks to the clarity of the blue waters, is exceptional for divers, with or without experience, who wish to witness life developing on walls o vertical surfaces, cracks, and shady places in completely secure conditions. It’s recommended to use a flashlight to illuminate the darkest sites to reveal intense reds, oranges and yellows of sponges, algae, fish and the infinite number of organisms which occupy the countless interstices of the rock. It is a very suitable site for understanding reef geomorphology since the little wall was an ancient coastline cliff, formed when the sea level was lower. The little cliff displays numerous evidences of erosion in the form of crevices and fissures, including small creeks and river mouths.

Manta’s City:

Within the reef lagoon, in the lagoon channel behind the barrier reef and reef terrace, over a white sand bottom which produces a particular luminous blue in the crystalline water, one encounters disperse patchy reefs. A spectacular slope of bright white sand descends from the reef terrace to the lagoon where one finds the patch reefs. Large coralline heads, especially of star coral (Montastrea), some really enormous and thus very old, as well as soft corals and sponges form the basic structure of the patch reefs. They rise from the bottoms of the lagoon, at 45 ft, to near the surface and serve as a refuge for a complete variety of reef organisms. In the sandy bottoms, you frequently find sting rays which, mistaken for manta rays, give the site its name. It’s an easy diving location, good for beginners and for familiarizing oneself with the environment, as well as for the underwater photography, due to the extreme water transparency. Also very suitable for understanding the general structure of the barrier and patch reef. Currents usually make divers drift, and they have to be picked up by the boat down stream. Although there are low risk currents, they should be taken into consideration.

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