Bajan Queen Wreck

The Bajan Queen is a 41-metre tugboat deliberately sunk in 2002 and quickly crowned one of the most recognisable wrecks in Carlisle Bay - a tidy, upright little...

Berwyn Wreck

The Berwyn is a 70-foot vessel with roots in the First World War era, resting in about six metres of water in Carlisle Bay and adding another century of maritim...

Carlisle Bay Reefs

Beyond her famous wrecks, Carlisle Bay is wrapped in a band of healthy fringing reef that divers and snorkellers alike enjoy off beaches like Pebble Bay, Browne...

Ce-Trek Wreck

The Ce-Trek is a 110-foot vessel with a colourful backstory - a seized drug-runner's boat deliberately scuttled as an artificial reef - and today she rests at a...

Cornwallis Wreck

The HMS Cornwallis is a wreck with a remarkable history and an even more remarkable depth - literally. This 56-metre vessel, a former Canadian frigate with Roya...

Eillon Wreck

The Eillon rounds out Carlisle Bay's cluster of wrecks as one of the deeper sites in the group, resting at around seventeen metres on the bay's southern edge. H...

MV Trident

The MV Trident is the newest addition to Carlisle Bay's wreck family - a former Coast Guard vessel deliberately sunk in 2016 to expand the bay's already legenda...

Pamir Wreck

The Pamir is a 60-metre cargo vessel deliberately sunk in 1999 that has since become one of Barbados' richest and most-loved wrecks - a low, hard-coral-encruste...

SS Stavronikita

The SS Stavronikita is Barbados' most iconic wreck and one of the most photographed ships in the Caribbean - a 365-foot Greek freighter deliberately sunk in 197...

Around Carlisle Bay and Bridgetown you eat at the cosmopolitan end of Bajan cuisine - fresh grilled dorado and snapper at the beachfront restaurants, the national dish of flying fish and cou-cou (cou-cou) with Bajan pepper sauce, and cold Banks beer or a Mount Gay rum punch as the sun drops on the bay. The west-coast resort strip offers everything from fine dining to casual beach grills, and no first-night Barbados meal is complete without a taste of the island's celebrated rum.

Sandpiper Hotel

Fairmont Royal Pavilion

Adaya Hotel

Cocktail Club Hotel

Carlisle Bay is the beating heart of Barbados diving and one of the most concentrated wreck-diving playgrounds anywhere in the Caribbean - a broad, sheltered bay on the south-west coast, fringed by Bridgetown and the calmer west-coast resorts, in which a remarkable cluster of deliberately sunk and historically lost vessels lie in warm, clear, current-light water. Six or more wrecks span three centuries of maritime history here, from the First World War-era Berwyn and the U-boat-despatched Cornwallis of the Second World War to the tugboat Bajan Queen, the drug-runner's hull Ce-Trek, the newer Eillon, the still-fresh Coast Guard vessel MV Trident and, towering over them all, the legendary SS Stavronikita - a 365-foot Greek freighter sunk in 1978 whose upright hull drops to forty metres and whose masthead reaches toward the surface. Because the bay is protected and the wrecks sit at recreational depth, it offers an almost perfect diving arena where a single boat trip can thread four or five different ships, each with its own character, history and colony of fish, from four-metre nursery wrecks for beginners to Stavronikita's deep, advanced plunge. Beyond the metal, the bay is ringed by healthy fringing reef off beaches like Pebble Bay and Browne's Beach, so non-wreck diving, training and family snorkelling flourish alongside the headline ships. The density, variety and easy access of Carlisle Bay are what put Barbados on the wreck-diver's map, and it is the natural first day for almost every visitor - a compact, protected, endlessly rewarding introduction to the island's underwater world.

Barbados – Carlisle Bay Marine Park

Everything funnels through Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI) on the south coast, a 20- to 45-minute taxi or pre-arranged transfer to most dive bases, and Barbados's compact size means the island's sites are never far away - almost anywhere you base yourself you are within 30 minutes of both wreck and reef diving. Most operators are boat-based and run two-tank mornings and afternoons, though the island's sheltered position keeps a remarkable number of sites accessible as easy shore dives. Because Barbados is the easternmost Caribbean island, the calm west and south coasts face into the sheltered Caribbean while the east faces the open Atlantic - which shapes everything about diving here.

Dive Sites in Barbados – Carlisle Bay Marine Park