Diving - Diamond Reef

DEPTH: 10-35 feet (3-11 M)

LEVEL: NOVICE

Diamond Reef is a friendly little reef just right for brand new divers or snorkelers, and perfect for a quiet afternoon spent puttering around underwater. It is an exquisite night dive. Out in the sand, adjacent to the reef, is a colony of garden eels. These often over looked residents of the sand flats look like a field of sea grass waving in the breeze. just the head and upper body of these pencil-thin eels protrudes from a permanent burrow. Approach too closely and they will, almost imperceptibly, slip back into their burrows and disappear. Stretch out on the sand and crawl right up to the coral for an intimate and prolonged observation of all the tiny creatures inhabiting a single coral head. You can get within inches of the coral without touching or damaging it by coming in slowly on the sand. After you've ambled down the reef for a while return to your boat along the top of the reef, looking for blue chromis, tiny wrasses and parrotfishes.

Text extracted from The Guide to Diving and Snorkeling in the British Virgin Islands by Jeff Williams, Ria O'Hagan.