Page 576 - The Dutch Caribbean Isles

BLUE BEAD HOLE: Finding a Blue Bead while
diving in the Blue Bead Hole is something
you won’t forget the rest of your life. But
even if you don’t find one during your dive,
the site has a lot of surprises. You have a
big chance of admiring pieces of Statia’s
rich history, such as clay pipes and pottery. jacks form dense schools above the wreck
Besides these artefacts, you will probably
come eye to eye with Statia’s most beautiful
fish with a dinosaur-looking head, and the
most colorful blue fins, the Flying Gurnard.
Depth 17 meters.
CASTLE ROCKS: This site is also referred to
as twin peaks for the two basalt rocks that
seem like mountain peaks. Packed with a
variety of fish. Depth: 25 meters.
CHARLES L. BROWN WRECK: The Charles
Brown is one of the largest and most im-
pressive wrecks in the Caribbean (100m/
327ft). This cable laying ship built in Italy head goby and schooling creole wrasse.
in 1954 was cleaned and sunk in 2003 as
an artificial reef for divers. Once operating wall where pelagics swim by. Depth 40 +
in the Maldives, it now rests on its side in
front of the island. The view when you ap-
proach is spectacular. The wreck has most
of its superstructure intact and is easy to
penetrate for those who want to. Horse-eye
while huge barracudas live right on it.
Depth 31 meters.
CHIEN TONG WRECK: Chien Tong was once a
52m/170ft Taiwanese long-liner but is now
a magnet for turtles, barracudas, reef sharks for interesting marine life, 100% guaran-
and other marine life. Popular place for
night diving: giant hawksbill turtles, green
turtles use the wreck as a hotel for the
night. Depth 22 meters.
CLIFFS: A big steep vertical wall brings you
around the corner where we end our dive
on the top of the reef where you find yellow
Black coral grows on the deep end of the
meters.
DOUBLE WRECK: Despite its name, Double
Wreck is not a wreck dive because all the
wood of the wrecks has rotten away. Only a
few ballast stones and two huge anchors re-
mind you of the ships which sank 300 years
ago. The rest of the ballast stones are now
fully grown in with sponges and coral. It is a
rather small dive site, so it gives you plenty
of time to search all the cracks and corals
teed! A huge family of tiny blennies use the
old anchors as a skyscraper. The whole dive
site is guarded by huge southern stingrays
who are so relaxed you can approach them
as close as you dare. During almost every
dive, a barracuda or turtle guides you back
to the anchor buoy. I did not have one dive
on Double Wreck without one of these en-
counters. Depth 18 meters.