Nassau & New Providence · Bahamas · Reef · Coral garden
Periwinkle Reef
Sea fans and sponge-covered coral heads in 8 m of water
Area photo: Rüdiger Stehn · CC BY-SA 2.0
A shallow coral garden off New Providence with a maximum depth of 8 m, thickly grown with violet corals, sea fans and sponges. Mild current and visibility reported up to 25 m make it a straightforward boat dive, and the depth is shallow enough that most divers run out of gas long before they run out of no-decompression time.
Where it is and how deep
25.0227° N, 77.2586° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
The site is boat-accessible and the profile is flat. You drop onto an underwater garden that tops out around 6 m and bottoms at 8 m, thickly covered with violet corals, sea fans and sponges that grow over the coral heads and give the whole reef its structure. Current is mild, so there is no need to work a particular direction: most groups simply wander the coral heads and let the shallow depth stretch the dive out.
The coral gives the fish somewhere to live, and the reef is busy with them. Large schools of yellow goatfish and angelfish swim past, parrotfish work the coral, and amberjacks come through in open water off the heads. Stingrays sit on the sand between the coral, moray eels and juveniles shelter in the branches, and reef sharks pass by often enough to be worth watching for. It is a common choice for the last dive of the day.
Marine life and season
- Stingrays
- Reef sharks
- Reef fish swarms
- Trevally & jacks
| 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
How deep is Periwinkle Reef?+
Shallow: the site runs roughly 6 to 8 m, with a maximum of about 8 m (25 ft). That depth, plus mild current, is why it is often used as a beginner site or as the last dive of the day.
What will I see at Periwinkle Reef?+
Violet corals, sea fans and sponges over the coral heads, with schools of yellow goatfish and angelfish, parrotfish, amberjacks, stingrays on the sand, moray eels tucked into the coral, and reef sharks passing through.
Sources
- Periwinkle Reef — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide
- Nassau Diving - New Providence Island, Bahamas — Dive The World
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