Anguilla Honeymoon Planner Ideas for a romantic getaway on this Caribbean island

Adventures in Anguilla: Scuba Diving

Anguilla is making its move into the world of scuba diving and still offers pristine conditions around the island for those couples looking for adventure in the form of coral reef dives as well as wreck dives.

Some popular dive sites include:

•Sandy Island, 30-70 feet. A good site for sea fans and soft corals.
•Sandy Deep, 15-60 feet. A mini-wall offers divers the chance to spot hard corals, abundant fish life, and occasionally stingrays.
•Aughors Deep, 110 feet. This deep dive includes a look at black coral; often large pelagics are spotted.
•Frenchmans Reef, 10-40 feet. Look for schools of reef fish on this cliff edge boulder. Popular with underwater photographers and beginners.
•Prickly Pear, 30-70 feet. An underwater canyon, this site includes ledges, caverns, and is often home of nurse sharks that rest on its sandy bottom.
•Grouper Bowl, 25-50 feet. Hard coral formations are found here.
•The Coliseum, 25-50 feet. Hard coral formations and schooling fish spotted here.
•Sand Canyon, 90 feet. An underwater canyon that comes up to within 25 feet of the surface makes this dive popular.
•Little Bay, 15-30 feet. Training and night dives often use this site, which is a nursery area for small fish; good underwater photography site.

Seven wrecks lie in the waters off Anguilla. Four were sunk in 1990 as part of an ecological program and all the wrecks are intact and upright on the ocean floor. Wrecks off Anguilla's shores include:

•Wreck of Ida Maria, 60 feet. Deliberately sunk in 1985, this 110-foot freighter is home to many schools of fish and Anguilla's famous lobsters are often spotted here.
•Wreck of M.V. Sarah, 80 feet. Deliberately sunk in June, 1990, this 230-foot vessel is home to a wide variety of marine life.
•Wreck of M.V. Meppel, 80 feet. Also sink in June 1990, this vessel is intact and sits just inside the sail reef system.
•Wreck of M.V. Lady Vie, 80 feet. Another vessel sunk in June 1990, this intact vessel is also located near the sail reef system.
•Wreck of M.V. Commerce, 45-80 feet. Sitting on a gently sloping bottom, this 1986 wreck has an abundance of fish life and rays are often spotted here.

Adventures in Anguilla: Snorkeling

Snorkeling is always a popular underwater activity around the island. A marked snorkel trail is found off Shoal Bay East. Maintained by the National Trust, the site has been mapped and can be easily followed by most snorkelers. (Storms sometimes move the markers so check with the National Trust before heading out in search of the trail.) Stop by the National Trust office at the National Museum in The Valley or ask your hotel's concierge for a map of this snorkel trail. Laminated for use underwater, the maps are available from the National Trust for a deposit. To check on the snorkel trail or to obtain a map, call the National Trust at (264) 497-5297.

The snorkel trail offers a diversity of sites that illustrate the type of marine life and underwater formations found in Anguilla's waters. To reach the snorkel trail, follow the main road down to Shoal Bay. The trail is located just off the point east of Uncle Ernie's. The marked trail includes sites that illustrate underwater damage such as hurricane damage sustained in Hurricane Luis, algae invasions, and white band disease, a bacterial disease that spread throughout much of the Caribbean in the 1980s. At this site, dead elkhorn coral can be seen .

The trail also identifies brain coral, boulder coral, and natural defenses used by reef creatures such fire coral, which stings predators (and swimmers!) when touched. The snorkel trail also marks turtle habitat and the site is known to be the home of hawksbill turtles year-around.

Related Pages about Anguilla:

> Honeymoons, Destination Weddings, and Romantic Getaways in Anguilla
> Anguilla chapter of "Romantic Escapes in the Caribbean"