With seventeen marvelous islands to explore, the British Virgin Islands are a fantastic place for a dive holiday. One of the best places to visit is Norman Island, which lies near the boundary line that separates the US Virgin Islands from the British Virgin Islands. Two and a half miles long and with a center ridge that extends all along that length, the island has reefs and bays, pinnacles and caves, all of which offer divers the opportunity to enjoy an enchanting break from the everyday. Here are just five of the island’s many sites to start you on your way to what will surely be one of the best vacations ever.
Angelfish Reef
Located on Norman Island’s leeward side, Angelfish Reef is home to an incredible cast of underwater characters, large and small. With a labyrinth of rocky canyons and ridges that wind their way across a sandy bottom, this colorful site is well protected from outside currents, and is ideal for all divers to explore.
Among its inhabitants, you’ll find everything from the rare orange ball anemone, which has clear tentacles tipped in orange balls that look like fish eggs, to nurse sharks napping beneath the reef’s fingers and larger reef sharks patrolling its outer edges in search of a meal. Watch for tiny stealth shrimp, baby eels, and minuscule crabs, as well as larger green eels and of course, the angelfish that lend their name to the site. Maximum depth is just over 25 meters, but there is plenty to see in much shallower water. Be sure to bring your camera, and prepare to be amazed!
Ringdove Rock
Offering depths between 5 and 21 meters, Ringdove Rock is a sea mount which is covered in swaths of coral and sponge, gorgonians and sea fans, crinoids and anemones. With lobsters and juvenile angelfish, small moray eels, and schooling sergeant majors, plus a whole host of other inhabitants, this is an underwater paradise which is accessible to all divers.
Look for yellowhead jawfish hiding in their dens along the sandy bottom, and be sure to inspect the anemones and sponges carefully, as you can find a wealth of macro life living in symbiotic harmony with them. Colorful butterflyfish, iridescent parrotfish, and even a few small sharks can be found here, so be sure to look up from time to time. You never know who might be watching you!
Spyglass Wall
Situated against Norman Island’s north side, Spyglass Wall parallels the shoreline and offers a drop from 6 to 18 meters. Named after the hill on Norman Island, where pirates once kept watch for merchant ships to exploit, the wall is covered in magnificent purple tube sponges, massive sea fans, and beautifully colorful coral. Home to nudibranchs, lobsters, and moray eels, as well as groupers and snapper, it is also a great place to find spotted damselfish and striped wrasse, tiny leaf fish, and even some tobaccofish, which hideaway in tiny rocky dens along the wall’s bottom edge.
Look out into the blue, and you may see turtles, reef sharks, big silver tarpon, eagle rays, and stingrays; and nearby, blue tangs and butterfly fish, angelfish, and other colorful tropicals are more than happy to keep you company. Look for gobies operating cleaning stations, too. With great visibility and calm conditions most of the time, this is one wall which is suitable for all divers to explore to their hearts’ content.
The Caves
While the outer island wall that supports the caves drops away to meet the sandy seabed at 40 feet, the inside of the caves themselves is just 4 feet deep, creating a fantastic place to snorkel for as long as you like. With magnificent rock formations and splendid inhabitants, these beautiful rocky fissures are mystical. Some say they could hold pirate treasure, but none have ever been found.
There are three caves to explore. The northernmost of them extends for about seventy feet into the cool, dark heart of the island. With brilliantly colored soft corals decorating its walls beneath the waterline, the upper reaches of this sea cavern are streaked with veins of various strata.
The southernmost cave has a natural skylight in its ceiling, which is positioned right above a round rock where crinoids and anemones have anchored themselves near the bottom, and between the northern and southern cave, the third cave is more of a grotto-like indentation in the rock than anything else. A few feet above the waterline, a fourth cave can be seen, and if you are lucky, you might have the opportunity to take a look inside it as well.
All three sea caves are teeming with fish, including sergeant majors and yellowtail snappers, plus smaller filefish and others, which stay close to the shelter the walls provide. Orange cup corals can be found near the entrances, and the outer wall is fun to explore, as well.
The Indians
An excellent place to encounter hawksbill turtles, rays, and other large species, The Indians are a series of rocky pinnacles that rise up from the sandy seabed fifty feet below the surface, and extend to reach above the surface. Well-lit by the sunlight from above, these incredible formations are covered in brilliant coral and sponges, gorgeous anemones, lush gorgonians, and splendid sea fans in every color of the rainbow. With all this lush aquatic growth acting as a backdrop, the site is home to glassy sweepers that inhabit a small cave on its east side, as well as to the tarpon and barracuda that hunt them. In a saddle that connects two of the pinnacles at a depth of about seven feet, you can just relax and gaze out into the blue while you hunt for nudibranchs, and soaring arched swimthroughs give you the feeling that you are diving in a sunken palace filled with treasure.
When you’re not diving, there is plenty to do on shore. Check out the floating bar and restaurant called the Willie T, and be sure to take a catamaran cruise. Hike the hills, and enjoy the fantastic night life Norman Island offers. You may never want to leave!