Page 128 - The Virgin Islands

Wall Diving and the Abyss

Wall dive experience ranges from shallow water to dramatic
wall dives off the southern edge of Puerto Rico. Wall dives
are a dramatic and breathtaking experience. With the beauty
come danger to to pay attention to your dive profile.

Dive a wall and you know anything can hap- Walls are found throughout The US Virgin Is-
pen. The deeper the wall plunges the greater lands and their profiles range from those
the chance of encountering a truly remarkable

experience. Sharks and other large pelagics can that end at sand bottoms 60 to 100 feet deep, to

regularly be spotted at a wall’s drop-off zone. The seemingly infinite vertical descents. It is along

Bahamas boost some of the sheerest walls. The these escarpments of the deep reef that the

walls off of southern Puerto Rico can start at the majesty of coral spires and the magnificence of

50 foot depth with sheer walls that plummet to sponges is fully realized. Seafans, bryozoans, sea-

the deep abyss. Divers regularly spot Caribbean whips and Black Coral mix and mingle with the

Reef Sharks during the descent into the abyss. sponges, creating a garden carpet of life. More

Most wall dives have a slight current and are also color and the addition of motion is provided from

classified as a drift dive. Many of the wall dives solitary and schooling reef fish. Every wall is

also have coral encrusted tunnels. The topogra- similar, yet different: profile, shape, size and

phy of the southwest shore of Puerto Rico is var- predominant colors vary from site to site.

ied with shallow and deeper sites. Many of the What makes Bahamian walls so special are

deeper sites are located in the outer islands and several deep - very deep - basins across the

rarely visited. southwest shoreline of Puerto Rico and areas