RMS Rhone
Wreck · 20–80 ft · Salt Island, BVI · Rhone Marine Park
The two halves of a 310 ft Royal Mail steamer off Black Rock Point. The stern lies at about 30 ft with its propeller and shaft; the coral-covered bow is at about 80 ft. You can see the boilers, the engine and a famous porthole, with schools of fish swarming the hull.
The hurricane of 29 October 1867 drove her onto Black Rock Point. She broke in two and her boilers exploded; more than 120 people died. Scenes for the 1977 film The Deep were shot on the wreck.
Level: All levels on the stern; the bow at 80 ft is a deeper, advanced dive. Moor only on the National Parks Trust balls; a marine park permit is required.
Run by Blue Water Divers (Nanny Cay, Tortola), Sail Caribbean Divers (Hodges Creek, Tortola).
Painted Walls
Reef · 10–48 ft · Dead Chest Island, BVI · Rhone Marine Park
Four long gullies cut into the point of Dead Chest, their walls painted with sponges, corals and algae, plus a narrow cave. Look for hawksbill turtles, lobsters, nurse sharks, silversides and tarpon.
Level: Intermediate. Dive it only in settled conditions.
Run by Blue Water Divers (Nanny Cay, Tortola), Sail Caribbean Divers (Hodges Creek, Tortola).
Blonde Rock
Pinnacle · 15–65 ft · between Dead Chest and Salt Island, BVI · Rhone Marine Park
Twin pinnacles topped with fire coral rise from a sea-fan plateau at 35–40 ft to within 15 ft of the surface, ringed with ledges, tunnels and caves. Lobsters and crabs inside; turtles, jacks, cobia and barracuda passing.
A Royal Navy sketch from 1824 already marks it as a danger in the passage to Tortola.
Level: Advanced: current runs through the passage.
Run by Blue Water Divers (Nanny Cay, Tortola), Sail Caribbean Divers (Hodges Creek, Tortola).
Wreck Alley
Wreck · 60–90 ft · Cooper Island, BVI
Four ships lie in a line on sand beside a reef slope: the Marie L and the Pat side by side, the tug Beata, and the Island Seal upside down. All are coral-covered and draw schooling fish, rays and turtles.
All sunk on purpose as artificial reefs: the 90 ft Marie L in 1991, the Pat in 1995, the Beata in 2000, and in 2009 the Island Seal, a container ship that had run aground near Salt Island.
Level: Intermediate to advanced.
Run by Blue Water Divers (Nanny Cay, Tortola), Sail Caribbean Divers (Hodges Creek, Tortola).
The Indians
Reef · 0–50 ft · off Pelican Island, by Norman Island, BVI
Four rock pinnacles rise from about 50 ft to above the surface between Norman and Pelican islands, covered in hard and soft corals, sponges and sea fans, with swim-throughs and ledges full of reef fish.
Level: All levels, and a good snorkel. National Parks Trust moorings only.
Run by Blue Water Divers (Nanny Cay, Tortola), Sail Caribbean Divers (Hodges Creek, Tortola).
Chikuzen
Wreck · 45–75 ft · open water north of Tortola
A 246 ft refrigerated ship on her side on sand in open water, about 8 miles off Tortola, with three open holds. Far from any reef, she pulls in open-water life: big schools of barracuda and jacks, rays and sharks.
Built in Japan as a long-liner, later used for cold storage in St. Maarten. With a hurricane coming in 1981 she was set on fire and cast adrift, and sank here.
Level: Advanced: an open-water boat dive with current. Fully exposed. Often not diveable.
Run by Blue Water Divers (Nanny Cay, Tortola).
Kodiak Queen
Wreck · 20–60 ft · north-west of Virgin Gorda, BVI
A Navy fuel barge sits upright, wrapped in the steel mesh of an 80 ft kraken sculpture. Irma damaged the kraken in 2017; the mesh now carries coral, sponges and reef fish.
Built in 1940 as the US Navy fuel barge YO-44, she survived the attack on Pearl Harbor and later worked as an Alaskan crab boat. She was sunk in 2017 as the BVI Art Reef.
Level: Beginner to intermediate; also a snorkel.
Run by Dive BVI (Leverick Bay, Virgin Gorda), Sunchaser Scuba (Bitter End, Virgin Gorda).
