Page 258 - The British Big Four

G tuna are all usually on patrol, and it’s from site to site.
reat big groupers, turtles, billfish and file, shape, size and predominant colors vary fish normally found out in the open sea. An-

ything could be cruising the wall which adds

not uncommon to see sweeping eagle rays, W alls offer an opportunity for divers to to its mystique. Out of the depths, come ea-
or even hammerhead, tiger and silky sharks experience much of the ocean’s diver- gle and manta rays, marlins, tunas, kingfish,
out sniffing for their prey. As if all this wasn’t mackerel, mahi mahi and sharks of all types,

enough to make you want to dive, Bahamas sity in one place. At the top you’ll find the including hammerhead, bull, tiger and Car-

drop-offs are punctured with awesome cav- kaleidoscope of corals and small fish that ibbean reef, to cruise the wall for their next

erns, tunnels and swim-throughs. The sea you would expect to see at any healthy reef meal.

around Andros is home to an unmissable - star, brain, elkhorn and staghorn corals, A dvanced divers can try “wall flying,”
sight - a ledge runs from the main wall to sea urchins, sponges, sea fans, parrotfish, with an underwater vehicle, zipping in
a smaller drop-off, creating a large reef in- trumpetfish, angelfish, queen triggerfish,

tercut with mini canyons, all covered with sergeant majors, and more. Descend further and out of small caves and crevices 60 feet

magical black coral bushes. Walls are found and the harder corals give way to forests below the surface. Technically you reach

throughout The Bahamas and their profiles of gorgonians and soft corals, which reach a top speed of only 2.4 mph, but it feels a

range from those that end at sand bottoms out in a silent rhythmic dance. Sponges ap- lot faster. The DPV (diver propulsion vehi-

60 to 100 feet deep, to seemingly infinite pear in their most magnificent forms - all cle) allows divers to see more sites in less

vertical descents. It is along these escarp- shapes and sizes. With less sun penetration, time and experience the fun of underwater

ments of the deep reef that the majesty of one by one, the colors disappear as you de- travel. This Extreme Adventure?, offered by

coral spires and the magnificence of spong- scend - first red, then orange, green, and so Stuart Cove’s Dive Bahamas, consists of two

es is fully realized. Seafans, bryozoans, sea- on until everything appears brown. Strobe 30-minute dives - one over a shallow bottom

whips and Black Coral mix and mingle with lights and flashlights, however, bring those to become familiar with the operation of the

the sponges, creating a garden carpet of colors back. Lurking inside crevices you may DPV and the second is a flat-out run along

life. More color and the addition of motion see moray eels, shrimp, spiny lobsters and the wall.

is provided from solitary and schooling reef even squid and baby octopuses, waiting for

fish. Every wall is similar, yet different: Pro- nightfall. Then there are the big pelagics,