A sandy site south of Cabrits with a large field of sea pens, the white feather-shaped animals that stand upright out of the bottom. Cabrits Dive Centre calls the creatures rare, the field a large one, and puts it at 75 to 100 feet (up to 30 m). The published range for the site as a whole is 35 to 120 feet (up to 37 m), and it is a twenty-minute boat run from the dive centre.
Where it is and how deep
15.5868° N, 61.4736° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
This is a sand dive rather than a coral one. Cabrits Dive Centre describes a sandy area holding a large field of sea pens, creatures that look like a white feather stuck upright in the bottom, and puts the field itself at 75 to 100 feet, roughly 23 m to 30.5 m. That band is what the dive is planned around, inside a published range of 35 to 120 feet (up to 37 m).
Sea pens are hard to find and easy to damage, so the diving is slow and off the bottom: trim sorted, hands in, fins high. Reaching the field means going deep early, which leaves the shallower sand for the back half of the dive and the ascent. The run out is twenty minutes, well beyond the Douglas Bay and Prince Rupert Bay sites the same centre works.
Marine life and season
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime |
Season follows Dominica: November–May gives calmer seas and the best sperm whale sightings; September–October bring the heaviest rain and hurricane risk.
Know before you go
- The sea pen field is fragile and stands proud of the sand, so a dragged fin or a dropped knee takes out the animals the site is dived for.
Sources
- Diving in Dominica — Cabrits Dive Centre
More dive sites in Dominica
Wreck
The Nadine L., a 17-metre wreck (55 feet) sunk in 2003 as a first wreck dive
Reef
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Muck & macro
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