Nassau & New Providence · Bahamas · Artificial reef
Ocean Atlas
A 60-ton, five-metre sculpture standing in five metres of water
Area photo: Rüdiger Stehn · CC BY-SA 2.0
A monumental Jason deCaires Taylor sculpture submerged five metres down off Nassau, inside Clifton Heritage National Park. Installed in 2014, the figure weighs 60 tons and stands five metres high, which makes it a single-subject dive in bright shallow water rather than a reef or wreck circuit stop.
Where it is and how deep
25.0077° N, 77.5508° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
There is one thing to see here and the whole dive is arranged around it. Ocean Atlas is submerged at a depth of five metres off the coast of Nassau, within Clifton Heritage National Park, and the piece itself measures five metres in height, so it occupies most of the water column between the seabed and the surface. Approach it from a distance first: the scale reads properly only when there is a diver in the frame beside it.
After that the dive is a slow circuit of the sculpture at different depths and angles, which is what most people are here for photographically. The shallow depth means gas is not a limit and the light is strong, and the work is a monumental public sculpture as well as an environmental gesture, intended to portray the positive potential of human interaction with the natural world — a point worth taking in before surfacing.
Background
Ocean Atlas is the work of Jason deCaires Taylor, whose underwater sculptures are installed as public art and as artificial reef substrate. It was put in the water in the Bahamas in 2014, weighing 60 tons and measuring 5 metres in height, and sits five metres beneath the surface off Nassau within Clifton Heritage National Park. Taylor describes the work as a monumental public sculpture and an environmental gesture intended to portray the positive potential of human interaction with the natural world.
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 | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime |
Season follows Nassau & New Providence: Diving is year-round; Nov–May is calmest and clearest, and Aug–Oct hurricane season brings the most cancelled days.
Questions divers ask
Can you snorkel to Ocean Atlas?+
The sculpture is submerged at five metres and stands five metres tall, so it is within reach of a snorkeller in good conditions as well as an easy dive. It lies within Clifton Heritage National Park off the coast of Nassau.
Sources
- Ocean Atlas — Atlas Obscura
- Jason deCaires Taylor — Wikipedia
- Ocean Atlas (mapped sculpture position) — OpenStreetMap
More dive sites in Nassau & New Providence
Wreck
A film-prop Cessna 310 at 18 m beside the Clifton Wall
Blue hole
A 30 m-wide hole rimmed with coral at 12 m, dropping to 60 m
Reef
Sea fans and sponge-covered coral heads in 8 m of water
Wreck
A 60 m freighter sunk upright in 2003, bow at 12 m
Reef
Dozens of Caribbean reef sharks at 12 m, on a baited feed
Artificial reef
Connery's escape freighter, 30 m of hull in 12 m of water
Artificial reef
A Thunderball film prop under coral and sponges at 12 m
Similar dives elsewhere
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The Silent Evolution, more than 400 concrete figures on the seabed
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