Dive Review of
Aquanaut Dive Center in
Antigua

BVI, Cayman, Dominica, Saba, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Mexico
Yucatan

Dive Conditions

Dive plan time enforced: 45-55 minutes max bottom time.  

[None]  

Overall Rating

Since we heard that the diving in Antigua wasn't great, we hoped to fit in
only a tank or two during the week we spent sailing there. As luck would
have it, we were taken by a good operator to some very nice sites and ended
up diving six tanks.

Aquanaut is a full-service dive center based in English Harbor and it
maintains 20 dive moorings on the southern side of the island. The habitat
is comprised of ledges and sloping dropoffs littered with boulders (some
huge) covered with sponges and hard and soft corals. The rocks form
channels and overhangs that shelter an amazing number of juvenile and adult
fish and eels. While the area isn't the most colorful in the Caribbean, the
diving is in an overstocked aquarium. At one site, we found a group of over
50 high hats. There were huge numbers of reef and foureye butterflyfish. We
also saw silversides and big numbers of glasseye snapper, blackbar
soldierfish, wrasses, parrotfish, fairy basslets, grunts and small
groupers, gobies and blennies. Bigger fishes were cero, barracuda, cubera
snapper, black jack and porgy.

The diving was easy: Small groups, no currents, short runs to the dive
sites, backward roll entry and ladder exit. John, the owner and lead
divemaster, knows the area and sealife well and was very good about
pointing out interesting sights. He was also happy to let experienced
divers explore on their own while he guided others. At the SI, John served
fresh fruit from his trees and cookies.

While we enjoyed the diving and highly recommend Aquanaut's services, we
can't recommend Antigua for a dive-only vacation. There is better diving
elsewhere in the Caribbean. But this is a great place for new divers or to
sneak a few dives into a family vacation in Antigua.  

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