Reefwander
A large mustard-yellow brain coral head surrounded by reef fish on a shallow Providenciales reef — Turks & Caicos

Turks & Caicos · Turks & Caicos Islands · Wall · Reef

Eagle Ray Pass

A sand gully out to a coral wall dropping to 30 m

Area photo: SNORKELINGDIVES.COM · CC BY 2.0

A sand gully running out from beneath the mooring leads to the top of a sloping wall off Pine Cay, and the face below it carries a wide selection of corals down to a sand bottom at 30 m. Like the rest of the Pine Cay sites it is a submerged seamount rising to within 15 m of the surface, and it holds consistently good visibility.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Eagle Ray Pass: typical dive to 30 m (to 100 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit30 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

21.8734° N, 72.0908° WApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.

The dive

From the mooring, follow the sand gully that leads off from underneath it. It runs out to the top of a sloping wall, so the descent is staged rather than a straight drop down a face — gully first, then the lip, then the wall itself. Visibility off Pine Cay is consistently good, which helps on this route, because you can see the gully running ahead of you and do not have to guess at the line.

The wall carries a wide selection of corals down the face to a sand bottom at 30 m, the deepest ground on the site and the natural turn-around. Work the face on the way out, then use the slope to stage the return: back up to the lip, along the top of the wall, and home along the gully to the mooring. At 30 m the bottom time is short, so the deep section comes first and everything after it is ascent.

Marine life and season

The sources we used don't single out particular species here.

Month-by-month season rating for Eagle Ray Pass
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
PrimePrimePrimePrimeGoodGoodGoodGoodFairFairGoodGood

Season follows Turks & Caicos: January–April brings calm seas and the humpback whale migration through the Turks Island Passage; September–October is peak hurricane season.

Sources

  1. Dive Sites — Dive Provo — Dive Provo

More dive sites in Turks & Caicos

A crevice cutting down the wall from 15 m to 30 m

15–30 madvanced

Black coral under an overhang at 21 to 27 m

21–27 mintermediate

Near-continuous schools of grunts and snappers on the wall top

to 30 madvanced

Wall top at 15 m with a lobster-covered sand flat at 21 m

15–21 mintermediate

A south-facing wall that drops past 1,829 m (6,000 ft)

to 13 mintermediate

A sheltered bowl in the wall with two huge elephant ear sponges

to 26 madvanced

A sand chute from 15 m to a coral ledge at 30 m

12–30 madvanced

Similar dives elsewhere

Wall

Hob Na

Xcalak & Banco Chinchorro · Mexico

Tall, narrow canyons where groupers appear to nest

12–34 madvanced

Wall

Playa Kalki

Curaçao · Curaçao

Sand-beach entry onto a reef that slopes past 30 m

5–30 mintermediate

Wall

Douglas Bay Point

Dominica · Dominica

Swim-throughs between massive coral-covered boulders

6–27 mintermediate

Wall

Old #12

Grand Cayman · Cayman Islands

Vertical on one edge, a long slope on the other

17–30 madvanced