The house reef at Anse Chastanet starts about fifteen yards beyond the water's edge, with coral in as little as 6 m and a wall drop-off running to 43 m, all inside the marine reserve that fronts the resort's two bays. It is a shore dive, and the dive centre runs it as a required orientation dive before you dive anywhere else with them.
Where it is and how deep
13.8640° N, 61.0792° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
You walk in from the beach — there is no boat in this dive at all — and the centre uses it as the orientation dive before anything else on the schedule. The reef starts about fifteen yards past the water's edge, so the swim out is short and the coral is under you in as little as 6 m of calm, clear water.
From there the ground tilts away: the reef edge becomes a wall that drops to 43 m, so the dive is mostly a choice of depth — work the shallow coral heads, or run the edge and come back up over them. Over 150 species of tropical fish live here, and the ones divers count on are turtles, octopus, peacock flounders, seahorses, frogfish, moray eels, lobsters, trumpetfish and puffers.
The same reef reads differently after dark. Night dives turn up octopus and squid out hunting, basket stars open on the coral, parrotfish asleep in the structure and bioluminescence in the water column. Because the entry is from the beach, the night dive costs nothing in boat time — you walk in, swim the same fifteen yards and you are on the reef.
Marine life and season
- Sea turtles
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Squid
- Frogfish
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Prime |
Season follows St. Lucia: December–April is the dry season with the calmest seas; September–October carry the highest hurricane risk.
Know before you go
- The reef edge drops to 43 m below the shallow coral you enter over, so agree a depth limit before you swim out rather than following the slope down.
Photos from Anse Chastanet Reef
Shawn from Airdrie, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0
Shawn from Airdrie, Canada · CC BY-SA 2.0
Martin Tuchscherer · CC BY-SA 3.0
Dive videos
SCUBA Diving St. Lucia Anse Chastanet Incredible under water footage · BOOM & BIGZ TV on YouTube
Anse Chastanet Reef · Ryan Joseph on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is Anse Chastanet Reef?+
The coral starts in as little as 6 m about fifteen yards off the beach, and the reef edge drops away as a wall to 43 m. Most of the life sits on the shallow part of the slope, so you can dive it at whatever depth you are trained for.
Can you dive Anse Chastanet from the beach?+
Yes. It is a shore dive: you walk in from the beach and the reef begins about fifteen yards beyond the water's edge. The dive centre runs it as a required orientation dive before you dive elsewhere with them.
What is on a night dive at Anse Chastanet?+
Night dives on the house reef turn up octopus and squid, basket stars, parrotfish asleep in the coral and bioluminescence in the water column.
Sources
- Scuba St Lucia (Anse Chastanet Resort) — Scuba St. Lucia
- Scuba diving at Anse Chastanet — Anse Chastanet Resort
- Anse Chastanet Resort homepage — Anse Chastanet Resort
- Anse Chastanet Reef — OpenStreetMap
Photo credits
- Black sea fan and green coral heads on an underwater reef wall in St Lucia's Soufriere region. by WRI Staff, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Small boat beached on the black volcanic sand of Anse Chastanet Beach, St Lucia. by Shawn from Airdrie, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Jade Mountain Resort's terraced hillside buildings above Anse Chastanet Beach. by Shawn from Airdrie, Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- View across Anse Chastanet bay from the water, with Piton peaks rising behind the shore. by Martin Tuchscherer, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
In The Logbook
- Bioluminescence: why the sea glows at nightNight diving · 7 min read
- Night diving: the best night dives in the worldNight diving · 12 min read
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