Beginner Antigua and Barbuda
Antigua and Barbuda
A cargo schooner sunk in eight meters, shallow reefs, and a neighboring island surrounded by shipwrecks
A cargo schooner sank here in the early twentieth century and settled upright in eight meters of water, its hold open to the sun. It's one of the most photogenic and least demanding wrecks you can dive in the Caribbean.
In this profile you'll find what these two low, reef-fringed islands offer, from shallow wrecks to the southern barrier reef and the historic shipwrecks of the neighboring island, when to go, and what level you need.
It's a shallow-reef-and-shipwreck destination in an archipelago that was for centuries a crossroads of navigation: the number of ships lost here isn't a coincidence, it's geography.
Geography and access
The country is made up of two main islands and several islets, in the center of the Lesser Antilles arc.
The larger island is low-lying and of mixed origin, surrounded by fringing reefs and with a coral barrier off its southern coast.
The neighboring island, to the north, is even flatter and surrounded by stretches of shallow reef and sandbanks.
Those shoals, barely visible from the surface and sitting right on a historic shipping route, explain the huge number of shipwrecks recorded in the area.
The south and southwest coast, sheltered from the prevailing wind, concentrates most of the diving, with generally moderate depths.
Access is by international flight to the larger island, with connections from Europe and North America, and a short flight or ferry to the neighboring one.
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