Eden Rock is not just a dive shop, it's an incredible and
famous dive site in down town George Town where cruise ships unfortunately
drop their anchors on the deeper wall, destroying and killing coral life.
Passengers from these vessels go to snorkel and dive here since it's only
a short stroll from the docks, and even though these visitors arrive
almost every day, few actually discover the true mystery and beauty of
this special site's swim throughs, tunnels and marine life which lie in as
little as 25-40 ft of water.
Summer is the best time to dive this extraordinary site.
The dive shop is located seconds from George Town with friendly helpful
staff and very detailed site maps. The shop is easily recognized by its
pale blue building and big red apple (as in Garden of Eden.get it) with a
white dive flag slash through it.
Do not be fooled by a sigh at Paradise Bar and Restaurant, which has to be
passed on the way to Eden Rock Diving Center when coming from George Town.
Rent a tank with your buddy and you have a variety of choices when it
comes to which direction you would like to go. To the north of the entry
ladder is the Eden Rock mooring ball and to the south lays the Devil's
Grotto site.
If you are good on air you may do both sites in one dive as the maximum
depth is only 40 feet. Heavy breathers with healthy lungs may want to
consider doing these two sites as a two tank dive.
Both these sites consist of an exciting array of tunnels under the coral
fingers, which stretch quite far under the coral heads. Note to oneself:
"if you don't like small spaces, stick to the bigger ones."
A good way to cover the most ground on this site is to head to Eden Rock
mooring first. From 20 feet of water there are several entrances to be
seen, which lead into the tunnels.
In summer, especially July and August these spaces are simply filled to
the brim with darting silversides. These tiny fish grace us with their
presence, beauty and sheer number only once a year. They make for
absolutely spectacular scenery, photograph and videography.
Silversides school together in massive numbers to protect themselves from
Tarpon and Snappers darting into the school of tiny fish and snapping them
up by the mouthful. It's quite the rare sight to see these schools of
Silversides move in unison and in large circles around the bigger
predators and scuba divers. It's like swimming into a curtain of liquid
silver, which slowly parts to reveal the cave walls and surroundings.
At night the Silversides disperse, again for self protection as most
marine life hunt at night.
Come the morning they group together in ever larger numbers as they gather
groups of Silversides from other nooks and crannies. Once they have
spawned and their eggs have been released the Silversides will die or
become prey. Their minuscule eggs will release a new Generation the next
summer.
The Eden Rock site has lovely swim-throughs to enter and exit with
dramatic shafts of sunlight playing on the white sandy bottom.
From here Devil's Grotto can be reached and on the way there are several
different species of Anemones, Parrot Fish, Tangs as well as Pederson
Cleaner shrimp eagerly waving their white tentacles attracting fish to lie
down for a dental check up. These tiny bright purple shrimp are literally
the dentists of reef fish and do an excellent cleaning job of fish gills
and teeth, thereby feeding themselves. With good buoyancy a diver can have
a finger cleaned.
Devil's Grotto has a clean long tunnel to enter and exit as well as a
rather tall and extensive finger coral which always features a school of
Horse eyed jacks, blue wrasse and Bermuda chubbs. Amongst these coral
heads you will find Two-eyed butterfly fish, Indigo
hamlets and Sharp nosed butterfly fish. The base of this large finger of
coral leads into two very large caves, which connect and have exits at
their ceilings to 25 ft. It's to the south of these where you will find
many more tunnels and swim throughs, many not with a visible entry. It
would be a good idea to enter these with a knowledgeable Divemaster as
these spaces are intricate and very small. Only
experienced and comfortable divers should enter.
Because this is such a shallow site, safety stops can be done on the way
back to shore while still appreciating the life on the hard pan. The dive
shop is open all year round from 8am-5:30pm and even lone divers can
usually find a buddy or team to hang out with in no time at all.
Guided dives can be requested from the staff at the dive shop.
Last but certainly not least, it should always be remembered that the
ocean and its myriad of beautiful and mysterious life forms is vitally
important to a balanced ecology for all who live and breath on earth.
