Jack-o'-DAN - Carriacou & Petite Martinique, Grenada

20m Max

20-30m Vis

boat

Site Overview

Jack-o'-DAN is the site Carriacou operators trust with first dives: a 7-20 m reef garden on the island's leeward side where conditions are almost always flat, the coral is genuinely handsome, and the fish answer to being fed attention. A rich mix of hard and soft coral carries huge numbers of reef fish, with grunts and spotted drum in the overhangs, morays in every second crevice and lobsters lining the walls like brackets. Most of the garden lives at 7-14 m with the outer edge at 20 m — comfortable, repetitive-friendly depth with zero pressure. The site sits in Carriacou & Petite Martinique, one of Grenada's core dive areas, with water at 27-29 °C and typical visibility of 20-30 m. Minutes from West Side on Carriacou's sheltered leeward coast, inside the Sandy Island/Oyster Bed MPA system. Every island fleet needs its insurance-policy dive, and Jack-o'-DAN does it with genuine coral style. 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.

Dive Briefing

“Moor and descend onto the coral fingers, working the shallow garden out to the 20 m edge and back; the site is contained enough that the group never strays far from the boat. Depth management: plan the dive to a maximum of 20 metres and turn early. The sheltered Caribbean side is usually glassy, while the Atlantic-facing south coast runs with the trade-wind current that makes its drift dives so special. Short staged ascent from the garden — safety stop above the tallest soft coral. Newer divers can comfortably dive this site, staying within the range flagged by the guide. Several of Grenada's best waters are protected - the Grand Anse Marine Protected Area, the south-coast preserves and Carriacou's Sandy Island/Oyster Bed MPA all use mooring buoys and small user fees to keep anchors off the coral. Local operators hold the final say on which sites run each day, because a shift in wind or swell can change conditions between two bays.”

Location

Jack-o'-DAN and 4 nearby dive sites in Grenada.