Diving & Snorkelling

This volcanic island was never densely populated and even before the Soufriere Hills Volcano erupted only 12 000 people lived on the island, too few to seriously pollute the surrounding sea. Thus, Montserrat is one of only very few places in the Caribbean where hard corals are virtually free of the destructive diseases attributed to pollution.

The island is surrounded by a shelf that gently slopes from the coast to about 60 feet depth and then abruptly drops into the abyss of the Caribbean Sea.

In the very shallow region (10 to 30 feet) there are mostly boulders of variable sizes covered with sponges and hard coral, as well as with sea plumes, sea fans, colourful reef fish, snails and you might see the occasional octopus or a spiny lobster.

A little further out to the sea at a depth of 40 to 50 feet the bolder fields are replaced by rocky ledges separated by valleys. Here you will find large barrel sponges, brain and star coral, colourful reef fish and other creatures. Turtles and stingrays are common sights in these waters.

At about 50 feet the shelf of the island is covered by sand. The sand flat extends into the sea until it reaches the rim of the island's shelf in 60 to 70 feet of water. Here you enter the region of the deep reefs. They consist of large patches of rocky outcroppings embedded into the slope of the shelf. These areas are protected from the surges of most storms. The most delicate life forms of the tropical reef community can survive here and you may encounter huge pelagic fish.