Saba · Caribbean Netherlands · Pinnacle
Eye of the Needle
A needle-thin pillar rising to 27 m, dived with Third Encounter
Area photo: Patrick Hawks · CC BY 2.0
Eye of the Needle is the smaller of the two pillars standing together southwest of the island, paired with Third Encounter. Both rise to 27 m, but this one is only about 8 m across and resembles a needle balanced on its tip. Reef, blacktip and nurse sharks work the column, with snapper and Nassau grouper on the rock.
Where it is and how deep
17.6234° N, 63.2795° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The pillar rises to 27 m, so this is a line descent into open water with the rock appearing well below you. It is small — a column spanning only about 8 m, standing like a needle balanced on its tip — so the dive is a short orbit of one structure rather than a route across a reef, and the depth keeps that orbit brief before you start working back up towards the boat.
What holds divers here is the traffic. Caribbean reef sharks, blacktips and nurse sharks are the species most frequently sighted, and hammerheads, bull sharks, tiger sharks and whale sharks have all been reported by divers on Saba's pinnacles. More reliable are the yellowtail snapper, creolefish and creole wrasse stacked around the column and the Nassau grouper sitting in against the rock. Tuck in, watch your depth, and wait.
Marine life and season
- Reef sharks
- Groupers
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good |
Season follows Saba: December–April offers the calmest seas for pinnacle access; September–October bring the highest hurricane risk.
Know before you go
- The top of the pillar is at 27 m and everything around it is open water, so plan the turn before you descend and make the ascent on the line.
Sources
- Dive Saba, read Alert Diver Q3 — Divers Alert Network
- Best Diving sites in Saba — Divezone
More dive sites in Saba
Reef
A cave under the overhangs, and reef sharks out in the blue
Reef
A loaf-shaped reef with a roughtail stingray cleaning station
Pinnacle
A full circuit of the rock, then up the canyon on its northeast side
Boulders down to sand at 23 m, elkhorn coral in the shallows
A shallow shoal off Torrens Point, capped at 25 m
Muck & macro
Open sand off the harbour, searched for batfish and blennies
Pinnacle
A narrow sponge ridge topping out at 33.5 m in open water
Pinnacle
A pinnacle at 27 m with outcrops at 37 m, dived for the sharks
Similar dives elsewhere
Four sunlit tunnels bored through a coral mountain
A coral spire off the wall, topping out at about 27 m
A pinnacle from 32 m ledges up to a 5 m reef top
Open-water pinnacles reached only in the September-October calm window