Turks & Caicos, the area around Football Field

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

Football Field

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

Area photo: SNORKELINGDIVES.COM · CC BY 2.0

A mooring at the top of a steeply sloping wall off Pine Cay, with the pin set at 15 m and open sand beginning at 21 m. The fish are the reason to dive it: schools of juvenile barracuda, jacks, Bermuda chub and groupers over the wall top, and lobsters out on the sand flat beyond the reef.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Football Field: typical dive 15–21 m (50–70 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit15 m21 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

Descend the mooring line to the pin at 15 m, which sits at the top of a steeply sloping wall and is a fair example of the ocean-floor topography off Pine Cay. The sites here are submerged seamounts that rise to within 15 m of the surface, and they hold consistently good visibility, so the shape of the slope is readable from the moment you leave the line.

Work the wall top first, because that is where the schooling fish stack up — juvenile barracuda, jacks, Bermuda chub and groupers — and the slope drops away steeply enough that you can hold a shallow depth and still have blue water underneath you the whole way. Swim away from the wall and the ground flattens into a large area of sand at 21 m, home to many lobsters, so the second half of the dive becomes a slow search over open bottom rather than more reef.

Marine life and season

  • Barracuda
  • Trevally & jacks
  • Groupers
  • Macro critters
Month-by-month season rating for Football Field
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.

Questions divers ask

How deep is Football Field?+

The mooring pin sits at 15 m at the top of the wall, and the sand flat away from the reef is at 21 m. That sand is the deepest ground divers normally work here.

Sources

  1. Dive Sites — Dive Provo — Dive Provo

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