Diving - Markoe Point

DEPTH: 30-60 feet (9-18 M)

LEVEL: ADVANCED

Markoe Point lies on the lonely southeastern tip of Cooper Island, jutting out into the open Caribbean.

A delightful gully runs along the point, with a sheer cliff on one side and an exquisitely undercut coral ridge on the other. Look for lobsters deep in the crevices, and schools of black durgon and snapper out in the open. Swim around the point and cruise along the base of the cliff. It bottoms out abruptly on a sand and rock-strewn plain. Looking up the precipitous rock face you'll see thick clouds of swirling white foam as the waves break against the cliff. Along the bottom of the cliff, big solitary snappers and groupers patrol. A good turnaround point is the tall fissure that cleaves vertically through the wall. Inside lots of smaller grunts, snappers and blackbar soldierfish hide from predators. On the way back there is a shallow saddle that cuts through the tip of the point.

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