British Virgin Islands

This is probably our best trip ever... from the moment we landed on Beef Island to being picked up by our wonderful friends, Steuart and Fran and whisked away to their 57 foot Catamaran. The British Virgin Islands are such a civilized place to dive and sail.

The first morning we headed off for The Chimneys. And what a re-introduction to diving it was, after a nine month hiatus.

We anchored the boat at the Ocean's Edge and slowly entered the water to descend to forty-five feet and head towards a spectacular site called The Chimneys which is, as you guessed it, a chimney-like vent which starts at forty-five feet in a large cavern and ends at the surface as you make you way through a small but comfortable opening ten feet below the surface. The light pierces it and forms a spectacular spotlight effect when you are at the base of the vent. Just Wonderful.

After snorkeling around a while, we also discovered that you could swim through the rocky outcrops above the water and within one of them was a hollow area which was just great as well. A deep pool surrounded by rock and coral engulfs you while inside, but you had better be a fairly strong and confident swimmer.

Later, we lifted anchor and headed off towards The Bitter End Yacht club and anchored off a small island just west of the club for the night.

The next morning, we set sail around the tip of the island and while we had plans to head to Anegeda, we chose to tack off towards the Baths on Virgin Gorda, a simply spectacular spot which is featured on this page to the right.

The Baths are truly amazing. Boulders the size of apartment buildings are leaned up against each other and in the center form a walkway which is incredible as you wander your way through 100 ton boulders perched inches above your head.

Our next stop was the world famous Wreck of The Rhone. Widely regarded as one of the best wreck dives in the Caribbean, the two halves can be dived separately. The Bow lies in 60 ft - 90 feet - divers can swim inside the ships hold and see coral encrustations along with many fish. Diving inside a wreck that has great ambient light is always fun On our first dive, Yim and Fran stayed above the wreck and followed our bubbles through the dive.


Lobsters and crabs apparently often hide inside the wreck. And I mean crabs. I found one that had at least a four foot span.

Outside of the wreck, the foremast and crows nest can be seen along with the boilers, condenser, wrenches and winch.

The stern, often done as the second dive (15 ft-60 ft), shelters lobsters and octopus hiding in the metal work of the boiler gear box housing, the rudder and the propeller. Many fish varieties including Barracuda, Southern Stingrays, Eagle Rays and Turtles live in this National Park area.

We swam through the open area beside the propeller... it's a great spot to boost a divers confidence in safe conditions.

After leaving The Rhone, we headed down to Peter Island and anchored in a deserted bay for the evenings, snorkeled around watching the rays search for food ten feet down and came on board for some yummy rum drinks.

Next morning, we headed off to the Peter Island Resort and were wowed... Wow. Visit it if you are in the area at least for breakfast.

Then, off to the Caves. Located on the southwest side of Norman Islands, these really are Treasure Caves.

You can swim right inside them and with a flashlight, can easily enjoy the huge colonies of anemones attached to the surface of the openings. It's a great mornings snorkel trip.

Then out to The Indians.

Three rocky outcrops which reportedly rise 55 feet above the water and 55 feet below. Whether that be accurate or not, this is one great dive and once is not enough. Fran led us on this trip through an underwater garden the likes which are rare today on any dive before heading us back to the base of The Indians.

Swimming along at the base of these slabs of rock closely will reward you with dozens of different soft corals clinging to the surface before you come to a short wide tunnel which we easily swam through and entered another small world.

It's just a really cool spot. Little caves to enter, tons of fish, huge rocks anchored all around you and beautiful soft coral.

And a maximum bottom depth of 55 feet. What else could you ask for?

A Tale of Three Steves

A couple of years ago, Scuba Diving magazine rep Steve Eisenberg approached me and asked for a couple of days scuba diving from the dive shop I was operating in southern Belize. Since this included meeting and leading one of the worlds top underwater photographers, Stephen Frink, on the dive, I jumped at the opportunity. The dives were scheduled around the annual migration of Whale Sharks just outside Gladden Spit in Belize.

Stephen and Steve arrived and we sat down to dinner and planned the trip for the next day.

The next morning, we geared up and topped up all the tanks, loaded the gear onto the dive boat and headed off for Gladden Spit. As usual, when we arrived, the area was surrounded by many dive boats, all after the elusive largest fish in the ocean.

The ride out had greeted us with a pod of dolphins that we stopped and swam with. Then we renewed our trip through the myriad of cayes on the way to the site. Cruising through dozens of cayes every trip out to Gladden Spit was always an adventure. We would ride the winds behind the islands and speed up then back off as headed out of the protection into the wind. The shallows and depths of the inner lagoon clearly guiding our way through a wide variety of deep blues and shallow greens, scattered with small yellows patches marking off the sandy shallow areas.

Arriving at Gladden, it was always amazing how many boats surround this very small migration area. I've counted 16 boats within a half-mile radius. Even then, you can see perhaps a dozen others motoring towards you or patiently waiting a turn, tucked in behind the barrier reef... waiting.

Since the dive begins in water over 100 feet deep, it's really a hit or miss dive. There are fishermen pulling dozens of Cubera Snapper out of the water and shouting loudly. The whale shark migrates and swims over the spawning snapper below, so when a school of snapper is below a fisherman, chances are good a sighting is possible.

On this day, although we dove the site twice, the best we could do was find a large group of aggregating snapper at about 110 feet, two pods of dolphins but no whale sharks. We got some great photos of dolphins but slightly dejected, we headed home.

We decided to take the long way outside the reef and head south past The Silk Cayes when Winston, our boat captain spotted some birds in the distance. Birds circle schools of fish, which are being rounded up by predators out in the ocean and there is an excellent indicator of Whale Sharks turning up in those areas for an easy meal.

We powered up and made it to the site within minutes to find Whale Sharks!
Stephen was busy preparing his gear and I was off the back of the boat preparing to guide him in when a large dorsal fin broke the surface just under my foot. Besides Whale Sharks, there were at least three species of sharks feeding on the schooling herring and I backed out of the water for a split second to turn to Stephen and said, “There's a half-dozen different types of sharks down there" to which he replied something like "Cool" and jumped in.

That is why Stephen Frink is one of the best in the world. He was right in there.

I went in the water after him to make sure he was okay and it took all my energy to simply keep up with him, and he was carrying a camera. Keeping up with schooling herring that are being herded by Whale Sharks, Reef Sharks and a few other species of sharks, keeps them moving pretty fast through the water. Faster than we could keep up with and after almost an hour or more of trying, of getting back in the boat and back in the water, we gave up chasing and were satisfied that this was all we were going to find for the day. It was getting dusky and we should get back to shore before dark, so we got back on the boat and headed home for the day.

I doubt it was one of the better dives in Stephen Frinks' career but it certainly was a highlight in my diving career.

Moho Caye, Belize

One of my other favorite spots in Belize was Moho Caye. It’s a simple dive but there is a large coral pinnacle that starts in about 85 - 100 feet and makes it way up to within 20 feet of the surface and there are a large variety of critters to watch for while you circle this pinnacle.

The nice thing about this site is that you can end your dive in fifteen feet of water and still be seeing lots of marine life, like anemones and feathered sea cucumbers.

There are numerous ways to dive Moho Caye. I considered the starting point just off to the left of the small spot of sandy beach you can see in center of the right photo. From there, you could head south towards the pinnacle or north, towards a more sandy bottom and round the tip at the northern-most point. where the reef forms a sort of mini wall... quite steep with an eighty foot maximum bottom depth.

You can see from the photo above at left how much shallow area there is surrounding the island. It’s hard to pinpoint it from here, but if you were to begin your dive approximately halfway on the top middle side of this photo and swim left, you’d find the pinnacle I am referring to. If you really want to find it, I recommend finding a woman named Lloydia in Placencia Village (it’s not hard. Ask anyone in the center of town) and go with her. She loves this spot.

In March, if you are around visit the east side of the island where the Pelicans roost and build their nest. It’s fun to wander the island at that time... you can literally walk up to the nest with albino white baby pelicans squawking away.

I can honestly say that this is one of the nicest dive spots I have ever spent time at. No matter how often I visited, I always enjoyed myself. Yim and I used to take one of the baots out on our days off and hang out here with a picnic of sandwiches. Just a wonderful place to spend the day.

To see all the photos, visit our web site at www.oceansedge.com

At Ocean's Edge...

At Ocean's Edge, we try and relate stories which we feel will assist fellow divers and travelers. This past year of living on Vancouver Island have led to including some stories of places to visit like Ucluelet and Botanical Beach.

Imagine swimming with whale sharks and dolphins in Belize, exploring underwater caves and tunnels in Grand Cayman, swimming with Humpback Whales in Maui or gliding through the RMS Rhone in the British Virgin Islands from the back of a 45 foot catamaran. The undersea is, in many ways, the world's last frontier.

There is a whole new world to be discovered beyond the ocean's surface, and what better way to see it than take a scuba diving holiday? At least one dive in a lifetime is worth it just to experience the feeling of weightlessness underwater, the closest most of us will come to experiencing the non-gravity of space.

To find out more on how you can become a certified diver, visit our web site at www.oceansedge.com.