Diving Carriacou and Petite Martinique, Grenada

About Carriacou & Petite Martinique

Thirty-seven kilometres north of Grenada, the sister islands trade the main island's wreck fame for something rarer: thirty-plus dive sites packed into the Sandy Island/Oyster Bed Marine Protected Area, where pristine coral gardens, seamount slopes and gentle drifts run in water that feels private. Carriacou's leeward coast stays flat when the main island blows, the MPA's moorings keep anchors off the coral, and the little sister Petite Martinique - a bare two kilometres of boat-building island - extends the same protected water to its own doorstep. Grenada sits on the southern edge of the Caribbean plate, where a volcanic core and a shelf that drops away steeply from the southwest coast put walls, pinnacles and wrecks within a short boat ride of every base. Sister Rocks and Barracuda Point lead the list, with the sheltered gardens of Jack-o'-DAN and the swim-through playground of Arc du Vero filling the calm-water hours between. The second tier is what makes a week: Deep Blue's wall off the Sisters, Bogles Ridge, Valans Wall, Tropical Hill, Lime Kiln, the Coral Nursery restoration site, the Mabouya Garden and its whirlpool, Pagodas and La Jete down the leeward side, and the Petite Martinique-adjacent ground at Isle de Rhone, Petite Bacaye and Fort Judy - a list long enough that no two operators run the same week. Trade winds blow almost constant over the Caribbean, and it is their lulls and builds that set the daily diving schedule around Grenada. Water temperature stays in the high twenties year-round and the island sits outside the main hurricane belt, so the dive boats run twelve months a year.

Highlights

• ✓Sister Rocks / Barracuda Point - pelagic traffic over the island's best slope
• ✓Jack-o'-DAN - the always-flat coral garden and check-out classic
• ✓Arc du Vero - colourful swim-throughs and octopus hiding
• ✓Gun Point Ridge - the big-lionfish patch off the northern tip
• ✓Tugboat Boris & Westsider - Carriacou's own two-wreck playground

Getting There

Carriacou is a 90-minute fast ferry from St George's or a short flight to Lauriston Airport, and Petite Martinique sits a further hop by local boat - most divers do the ferry-hop as part of a Grenada week or book a liveaboard that anchors the circuit. On the island, Deefer Diving and Lumbadive (formerly ScubaTech) run the boat fleet from West Side, and MPA mooring fees are collected through your dive shop. The leeward sites stay diveable almost every day of the year; only the north and east exposures close when the trades really blow.