Turks & Caicos, the area around Eagle Ray Pass

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
PrimePrimePrimePrimeGoodGoodFairFairFairFairGoodGood

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

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