After training and diving in the UK my first warm water diving destination was in the Caribbean and I still love dropping down onto reefs in warm water and drifting over the coral watching reef fish going about their lives. We last dived in Grenada in 1998 and I had fond memories of the reefs and wrecks so when we returned in 2021 I was keen to see whether it had changed.

There are three or four dive shops along Grand Anse Beach, Eco Divers, Aquanauts and Dive Grenada. We had heard of all of them from other divers but chose to dive with Dive Grenada as they were based in the grounds of our hotel. This is a small, husband and wife operation run by British divers Phil and Helen with a good boat, guides and equipment. I suspect that post COVID everyone has scaled down and when we arrive things are just getting back to normal. Dive Grenada was offering two morning dives and an afternoon dive for up to six divers on their boat which we liked as it was not too crowded and you are well looked after. The boat leaves from the beach by the shop unless the sea is too rough when there is a short car ride to a jetty.

Spotted moray, Purple Rain Reef, Azure vase sponge

Reef Scorpionfish, Chain Moray, Scrawled filefish

Most of the diving that the Grand Anse dive shops cover is up and down the coastline from the airport in the South to the marine reserve to the north of St George. There are plenty of reefs in this stretch as well as a number of wrecks. There is more diving further afield - years ago we dived the Isle de Ronde which had spectacular fish around submerged volcanic vents and the diving around the small island of Cariacou even further to the north is also meant to be good.

For our first dives we head to Flamingo Bay and Dragon Bay in the marine conservation area. We drop in shallow water and then swim down along the reefs to a depth of around 20m. There is good soft coral and sponges, plenty of smaller reef fish - butterflyfish, grunts, squirrelfish and wrasse, as well as the stranger shaped fish like box fish, puffers, trumpetfish, scorpionfish and several eels and lobsters. Apart from a barracuda there are less larger fish probably because hungry islanders have eaten them during lockdown!

Purple Rain reef

Our second day of diving starts on a reef south of Grand Anse on the way to the airport. Purple Rain was named after the streams of blue wrasse that often pour over the reef. With a bit of current we drifted over the reef crossing the sand to reach new sections. Very colourful soft corals when you light them up with the camera lights (see above). Also quite a few lobsters, eels and several barracuda but again the lack of larger reef fish.

The next dive is the wreck of a small frieghter, the Veronica L (left). This ship sprung a leak and sank near the dry dock but was moved to its current position in about 16m water. It is quite a photogenic dive site because of its shallow depth and coral encrustation. It also attracted big shoals of reef fish - and other divers - a large boatload of Sandals divers were on the wreck when we arrived but didn't stay too long. It doesn't take long to explore the wreck after which you can inspect the seabed. There is also apparently a drop off near the anchor chain where you can dive down to about 30m.

A much more famous wreck is the Bianca C which we dive a couple of days later. The ship that sunk twice! Once in 1944, she was then refloated and worked as a liner and cruise ship before an engine room explosion caused a catastrophic fire in St George's harbour in October 1961. A British warship tried to tow her to the beach to be salvaged but she keeled over and sank in 50m of water where she has sat ever since.

When I dived the Bianca C in the 1990s she still looked like the wreck of the Titanic with a long row of portholes looming out of the blue and most of the superstructure still in place. 23 years later and the superstructure has collapsed into the hull and much of the decking has also collapsed. You can still make out the swimming pool and there is a big split 2/3 along the hull where she broke on sinking. In the early 2000s technical divers were still going inside but she is now considered too unstable and dangerous for penetration diving. The top of the ship is in about 35m of water so you can't dive it for long - we swam the length of the hull, admired some fine black coral and the many fishes that had set up home there, before we drifted off and up onto a nearby reef to do our safety stops.

 

Bianca C

Our last dive is a reef called Japanese Garden, close to and quite similar to Purple Rain. A good second dive after the Bianca C as our max depth was 20m. More good soft coral, sponges, worms, reef fish and a balmy water temperature of 28C. I gather that the temperature drops a couple of degrees in January - February but still manageable in a 3mm wetsuit.

We have been lucky to dive some of the top warm water diving sites in the world in recent years. As the Caribbean reefs get battered by hurricanes from time to time as well as being fished by the locals they are not as pristine as some more remote locations. However if you are looking for a holiday on a beautiful island with super friendly people and some good diving as well then this could be for you.

For more photos of Grenada and diving click here.