Exuma Cays · Bahamas · Blue hole · Cave & cavern
Angelfish Blue Hole
A vertical shaft with side caverns at its 18 m base
Area photo: Thespis377 · CC BY-SA 2.0
A vertical shaft off Stocking Island with an ever-changing tidal current running through the tunnel below it, which is what pulls the fish in. Divers slip through a small entrance hole and follow the walls down to a sand and rock base at 18 m, where several small caverns lead off into the dark. It is a rising-tide dive only.
Where it is and how deep
23.5257° N, 75.7602° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
The entrance hole is small, and eagle rays are often hunting over it as you arrive; they move off quickly and leave you the opening. Yellow jacks school past on the current and circle the rim, silhouetted against the sunlight above, while parrotfish keep their distance as you drop. The shaft runs straight down, and its sand and rock base sits at 18 m.
Give your eyes a moment to adjust at the bottom. Several small caverns run off from the base, and angelfish and lobster sit back inside them, so the dive turns from a descent into a slow look around the openings before you start back up the shaft. Time it on a rising tide: the current that pushes through the vertical tunnel is what makes the site work, and on the wrong tide it is what makes it dangerous.
Marine life and season
- Eagle rays
- Trevally & jacks
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good |
Season follows Exuma Cays: December–April brings the calmest, driest conditions; September–October is peak Atlantic hurricane season.
Know before you go
- On a falling tide the current through the vertical tunnel can trap divers at the bottom of the hole; the site is dived on a rising tide only.
- The caverns running off the base are overhead ground with no direct route to the surface; treat any penetration as a cavern dive, not a look inside.
Dive videos
Angelfish Blue Hole Scuba Diving · Pelagic Explorers on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is Angelfish Blue Hole?+
The sand and rock base of the shaft is at 18 m (60 ft), and the small caverns that lead off it sit at that depth. The dive is the descent through the entrance hole, a look around those openings, and the way back up the shaft.
When can you dive Angelfish Blue Hole?+
On a rising tide. The tide drives an ever-changing current through the vertical tunnel below the hole, and on a falling tide that current is dangerous enough to trap a diver at the bottom of the shaft.
Sources
- Angelfish Blue Hole Dive Site — PADI Travel
- Exuma Cays Dive Sites — Dive The World
In The Logbook
- What is a blue hole, and what's down there?Caves & caverns · 13 min read
More dive sites in Exuma Cays
Reef
Up to ten reef sharks over a 15 m patch reef
Wreck
An intact 27 m patrol cutter at 18 m, with reef sharks circling it
Wall
Canyons and rock passages cut into a wall between 13 m and 30 m
Wall
The Cathedral, a sunlit cavern swim-through at 12 m full of silversides
Wall
A 9 m shelf that slopes to 15 m and then falls into open blue
Drift
A tidal chute that drops you to 12 m then flushes you back to 4 m
Drift
A 30-minute tide-timed drift through an Exuma cut at 7.5 m
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