St. Eustatius · Caribbean Netherlands · Reef
Anchor Reef
A coral-covered French anchor of the 1750s, hooked into the reef
Area photo: SV Zanshin · CC BY-SA 3.0
A reef dive named for a huge French anchor of the 1750 to 1775 period that hooked into the reef and is now completely covered in coral, one of some 200 anchors lying off Statia. Operators run it to a maximum of 18 m, past a swim-through, an arena of cracks and overhangs and a reef top thick with barrel sponges.
Also known as Anchor Point.
Where it is and how deep
No published position for this site — the map shows St. Eustatius and its other sites; operators know the mooring.
The dive
The route runs to the anchor rather than starting at it. On the way in you pass through a swim-through, and then the anchor itself resolves out of the reef: a French piece from between 1750 and 1775, hooked into the coral and so thoroughly grown over that it reads as rock until you are alongside. A cleaning station sits on top of it, with Spanish hogfish working whatever comes in, so it is worth hanging back and watching rather than swimming straight past.
A few minutes on from the anchor the ground opens into an arena-like area full of cracks and overhangs, with drumfish and lobsters in the shadowed parts of it. The dive then climbs onto the top of the reef, which is effectively a barrel sponge forest with tube sponges and a mix of hard corals between them. Caribbean reef sharks patrol this stretch, moray eels of several species are common in the cracks, and the shallow finish keeps a long dive well inside no-stop limits from the 18 m maximum.
Background
The site is named for one of roughly 200 anchors that lie in the water off St. Eustatius, the residue of the open roadstead where ships rode at anchor rather than in a harbour. This one is French and dates from between 1750 and 1775, and it caught in the reef rather than being recovered; coral has since grown over the shank and arms, so what survives is an outline in living reef rather than exposed iron.
Marine life and season
- Reef sharks
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime |
Season follows St. Eustatius: December to April is the drier stretch; August and September carry the hurricane peak, and diving may pause in September.
Dive videos
Sint Eustatius Anchor Point pt 1 · Scuba Scott on YouTube
Sint Eustatius Anchor Point pt 2 · Scuba Scott on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is Anchor Reef?+
The dive runs to a maximum of 18 m, which keeps it inside Open Water limits and leaves plenty of no-stop time for the reef top.
Do you need to be an experienced diver?+
No. Operators run it as an Open Water dive: an 18 m maximum, a single swim-through, and no route or depth that needs advanced planning.
Sources
- Dive Sites — Scubaqua
More dive sites in St. Eustatius
Reef
Barracuda over a volcanic mini-wall, in groups of five to twenty
Reef
A small coral island with a vertical wall, to 19 m
Muck & macro
Seventeenth-century Dutch beads in the sand at 17 m
Wreck
A 100 m cable layer with a 40 m cable corridor through her hull
Wreck
A 52 m Taiwanese trawler, top at 15 m and seabed at 27 m
Reef
Ballast fused into the shape of a ship, and two anchors at 18 m
Wall
An almost vertical drop at the island's southern tip
Wall
Steep lava flows and narrow cracks dropping past 40 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Up to ten reef sharks over a 15 m patch reef
A loaf-shaped reef with a roughtail stingray cleaning station
A strong south-to-north drift over shallow reef, to 17 m
Overhangs and a gentle slope in 6 to 15 m off Cooper Island