Exuma Cays · Bahamas · Wall
Blacktip Wall
Canyons and rock passages cut into a wall between 13 m and 30 m
Area photo: Thespis377 · CC BY-SA 2.0
A moored wall dive in the Exuma Cays worked between 13 m and a recommended maximum of 30 m. The face is broken by canyon-like passages and paths between rock, so the dive alternates between open wall and short swim-throughs rather than running as a single straight swim along the face.
Where it is and how deep
24.6900° N, 76.8007° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
You descend the mooring line to about 13 m, which is where the top of the dive sits, and drop over the edge of the wall from there. The recommended maximum on the face is 30 m, so a sensible plan is to take the deeper section of the wall first and then work back up as the dive goes on, finishing shallow near the mooring where the gas and no-decompression margins are comfortable.
What makes the site more than a straight wall swim are the canyons — passages and paths cut between the rock that you can drop into and follow before coming back out onto the open face. They break the dive into sections and give the profile some shape, and because they sit on a wall that runs past the recreational limit, the discipline is to note your depth each time you come out of one rather than drift deeper with the terrain.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| 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
- The wall continues below the 30 m recommended maximum; it is easy to follow the terrain deeper, so check your depth each time you leave a canyon.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Blacktip Wall?+
The dive runs between 13 m, the mooring depth, and a recommended maximum of 30 m on the wall, which puts it beyond entry-level limits.
Sources
- Blacktip Wall — Scubago
More dive sites in Exuma Cays
Reef
Up to ten reef sharks over a 15 m patch reef
Blue hole
A vertical shaft with side caverns at its 18 m base
Wreck
An intact 27 m patrol cutter at 18 m, with reef sharks circling it
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
Similar dives elsewhere
An undercut amphitheater in the wall, lipped with black coral
A sloping wall dived between 18 m and 34 m
Near-continuous schools of grunts and snappers on the wall top
Black coral under an overhang at 21 to 27 m