Cobblers Reef

Dive Barbados

Crane Beach Reef

Cobblers Reef is a complex coral reef off the South East Coast of Barbados, West Indies. It runs from South Point



north east past Kittridge point



to East Point Lighthouse round the corner on Ragged Point.



for approximately 16 Km.

There is an inner reef on top of which the ocean waves break 800 metres off the shore. The shallowest coral is often less than 3 metres deep and its presence is easily seen.



The outer portion is rarely visible from the cliffs, but can usually be seen easily from a boat sited above it, in doubt a mask and snorkel will solve the issue. It lies about 1.6 Km off the beach and tops at about 15 metres depth.

In certain conditions of wind, tide, current, sea state and light, turbulence may be seen on top of inner and outer reefs.



In between the two sections the ocean may drop to almost 50 metres, sand at the bottom but coral down to 45 metres. (Chart courtesy of the British Admiralty)



The outer side of the inner reef is known locally as the “Back Side”. Near the top its gradient is less steep, but at about 25 metres it forms an “Edge” dropping at an angle of about 45 to 50 degrees to the horizontal, down to the sand at 45 metres. In the Northern section of the reef the Backside is wider and penetrates further into the Ocean than in the Southern section.

Local divers and fishermen refer to the outer reef as the “Fathom”, which is probably a traditional abbreviation for the Ten Fathom.

The inside of the Fathom is generally the steepest part of Cobblers reef, lying at an angle of 50 to 55 degrees, from about 20 down to 45 metres depth.

By contrast the outer side of the fathom initially slopes more gently, but like the Backside forms a steeper “Edge” dropping at 45 to 50 degrees from 30 to 45 metres before running out onto sand which plunges hundreds of metres into the Atlantic Ocean.



The inner reef is easily seen in this aerial picture which James Peirce kindly forwarded to me. South Point is bottom left, with Long Beach and the Airport next, going up to Foul Bay and following right past Crane Beach, Sam Lords and lastly Ragged point at the top right.



The top of the fathom can be seen as a lighter strip about the same distance from the top of the inner reef as the beaches and cliffs are on the inside.

James Milbourne took this shot of the Inner Reef from his plane back to Austin Texas in March 2008. The "Foul Bay Channel" is clearly seen as the sandy area in the right centre foreground.



In places there seem to be coral bridges between the fathom and the back side. These are not charted by the British Admiralty and are too deep to be represented on the current publically available satellite images, but they are known to some of the local divers like Ivan Moore who first told me about them.

I saw one when I followed Abram Innes straight down to 36 metres off BelAir in August 2007. We were on an isolated outcrop of coral about 70 metres across, topping at 34 metres and surrounded by sand below 40 metres and deeper.



After a few minutes I swam inshore and after crossing 10 metres of sand I reached the bottom of the backside and slowly ascended to 15 metres and thence to the surface where I was picked up by the boat Chris'Dee P73.

By contrast Abram used up half his tank on the island and then swam outwards from the opposite end to me and finished his dive on the top of the fathom. Neither reef was visible from the other but the island was visible from both.



Various ancient and modern landmarks can be viewed from the reef including Sam Lords Castle,



and the new Crane Resort Buildings.



For eight to ten months of the year wind and currents nearly always come in from an Easterly quadrant from the Atlantic Ocean, where the nearest land lies thousands of kilometres away in Africa. These are the Trade Winds that brought Columbus to the New World. At this time the Backside is pounded by surf and Ocean surge that swirls and bubbles both horizontally and vertically. The motion is much less 15 to 20 metres below the surface at the top of the Fathom. In consequence the Backside is broken, pitted, fissured, and littered with caves and crevices. The living coral is much more prolific in terms of “coral mushrooms”, large brain coral and fire corals than the more sheltered Fathom.

In August and September the Doldrums, that becalmed S.T. Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner set in,

("Water, water everywere, but not a drop to drink
Water, water everyhere yet all the boards did shrink.")

and the Ocean is relatively calm, except when tropical depressions roll in from West Africa.

A sit on top Kayak is a good way to explore the Inner reef, and in this picture of a calm August day in 2007 to checkout the Backside. They can be used most times of the year inside Cobblers Reef but are usually more challenging in the tourist season.



During August and September the lack of wind driven seas and major Oceanic swells seems to accentuate the Tidal or Lunar currents. These Lunar currents can be extremely powerful especially at Full or New Moon, and they reverse direction about every six hours. Even when the wind and the Ocean currents are calm these Tidal currents can set the shallow parts of the reef “boiling”, pile surf against the cliffs, and carry unwitting swimmers or divers and small boats into danger.

Surface pictures were mainly taken wih a Polaroid PD2070c digital camera with about 2.5 megapixels or a FUJIFILM FinePix F30 digital camera with 6.3 megapixels. The 2003 humpback surface shots were recently retrieved from my old Sony Camcorder footage.

My underwater shots were either taken with a a Nikonos-3 dedicated underwater camera with a 35 mm lens with or without a Vizmaster attachment using 35 mm transparency film, or a Mamiya 645 medium format camera with a 28 mm lens in an Ikelite housing and dome port using 220 transparency Rollfilm, or in 2006 an underwater camera made in China and sold in an underwater housing rated to 15 metres depth (50 feet) by British Airways on flight for £15 GBP in 2006. This probably represents the best value for money of the three cameras, and the pictures are acceptable in the context: film was 400 ASA negative film. In 2007 I am using a FUJIFILM FinePix F30 digital camera with 6.3 megapixels in a dedicated WP-FXF30 Waterproof Case. Which camera should easily be recognisable from the pictures, except in the minority that are credited to another photographer, or various satellite views.

During the Tourist Season when the Trade Winds predominate the reef is often too rough for safe scuba diving, but on calmer days Spiny Lobster, Slipper Lobsters, a variety of Crabs, Reef Sharks and Nurse Sharks, Turtles, Sea Fans,



Hard Corals, Anemones and Sponges can be seen. The bright orange sponges are known as "Elephant Ear Sponge"



Sponges may also be yellow and tubular. Brain coral flourishes on Cobblers Reef.



On the Fathom sessile fauna include Brain and Plate Coral, Sea Fans, Corky Sea Fingers and other Gorgonians.



Plate Coral harbors many caves and crevices that make excellent bolt-holes or hideaways.



This deeper water Gorgonian (Corky Sea Finger) from 35 metres down the Fathom is purple and branching though the depth has leached the reds from the spectrum.



Close-up of the Brain coral shows profuse, vigorous and healthy polyps, comortable in this rough but unpolluted environment.



Brain coral may play host to beautifully colored Tube worms.



Close-up reveals the detail.



This feather star keeps spectacular company on the backside off the Castle.



Close-up the delicacy is best appreciated.



Pillar coral is common on the backside.



Mustard Hill Coral (Porites astreoides) is also common on both reefs.



These Caribbean Arrow Crabs (Stenorhynchus seticornis) were spotted in a hole in the outside of the Fathom.



It can be qute intimidating to see a large reef shark blocking the way to the surface on the Fathom,



but we are not her prey, and she rapidly drops deep into the "blue" below and outside us.



Nurse sharks often rest in shallow caves



It was quite difficult to take a good picture



Unfortunately the flash unsettled her



and she soon moved away



and disappeared into deeper water.



Hammerheads can occasionally be seen when looking out into the blue from lower down the outside of the fathom but the view is likely to be fleeting and the diver needs to be very fortunate



James Peirce has dived and fished in Barbados for 25 years and so helped pay his expenses through University. Now he dives and fishes at weekends and on vacation. Most weekends he free dives the fathom which tops at about 14metres.



In early August 2007 James Peirce and Duane Skinner caught these two Tiger Sharks on Palangs (anchored long line) by Bath Beach a few Kilometres north of Ragged point. They were eaten by the Cropover Bank Holiday visitors to the beach. James told me he has only seen two Tiger Sharks while diving. One was on the fathom and was "a nuisance" so they had to call the boat over. He reiterated that shark attacks on humans are unknown in Barbados waters in living mermory.



Inside the inner reef on sand, rocks and stones to 12 metres, Stingrays (known as Skeates), Eagle Rays,



Octopus (known as Sea Cats),



White Sea Urchins known as locally as Sea Eggs are considered to have an aphrodisiac function when the roes are eaten. They usually move slowly around rocky ground eating sea weed inside the reef.



This colony has found a niche in inhospitable sandy ground attached to a large waterlogged tree trunk.



Black Sea Urchins are considered inedible by humans. Beware the long sharp spines which can be difficult to remove if they pierce the skin.



This edible white Sea Egg is hiding with a bunch of inedible (to humans) black Sea Urchins.



Queen Conch (Thin Lipped and Thick Lipped) can also be seen. Most Conchs seem to live in shallow water on sand inside the Inner Reef but perhaps we see the deeper specimens less frequently. This large thick lipped Queen Conch blended in well with its surroundings 30 metres down the Fathom.



When turned over in full daylight the transformation is startling. It is sad that not only do the shells make beautiful ornaments but the meat in many opinions is tastier than lobster.



Conch lying on the sand in 8 metres of water are usually well camoflaged with weed, and stones may easily be mistaken for Conch when viewed from the surface. This specimen was viewed from only a metre away during a free dive.



Helmet Conchs may be harder to spot but are also good eating and the shells often retained as an ornament. Is that a stone on the sand nine metres below the surface?



Seen from one metre away through the swirling sand it is clearly a Helmet Conch.



On its side out of water it clearly has a beautiful shell and the meat is a great delicacy.



The "Thin lipped" Queen Conch is also very beautiful. It is said by locals to be a younger stage of the larger "Thick Lipped" Queen Conch.



Barracuda, Triggerfish, Porgies, Yellowtail Snappers, and Moray Eels (known locally as Congers),



Stoplight Parrotfish (known locally as Parrot Chubs) are common on both reefs. This one is framed by brown coloured Fire Coral, aptly named for the painful sting it delivers to anyone foolish enough to touch it



Brown and red coloured “Chubs” are nervous and can be dfficult to photograph as demonstrated here.



They are widespread and represent the juvenile or female versions of much larger blue Stoplight Parrotfish.



Tightly packed shoals of Bermuda Chubs frequent the shallow parts of the reef. They usually average more than 30 cm in length, but are generally considered poor eating and should not be confused with the delicious blue, red and brown "parrot chubs".



Schools of Grunts are common on the Backside.



while pairs of Filefish may be seen among the gorgonian Corky Sea Fingers.



Trumpet fish, well known to Red Sea divers, can be seen hovering apparently invulnerable.



Wahoo, Mahi Mahi, Tuna and Hammerhead Sharks and other bigger pelagic fish patrol the deeper water off the outer reef. Large Grouper are rare but Angel Fish are commoner.



Box Fish hover around undisturbed by the divers,



but Black Trigger Fish are nervous: they seem to know that they are a popular local delicacy. Their tough skin requires that they are usually skinned before sale.



Queen trigger fish seem less timid



Scorpion Fish seem much less common than in the Red Sea. They are not at all timid. Beware the seriously poisonous spines in the dorsal fin.
Do not touch or tread on it.



Rainbow colored Wrasse are common but tend to be nervous



In the Red Sea there are fish known as Coral Trout. They closely resemble fish known in the Caribbean as Coneys or a related fish known known as a Graysby. Graysbys sadly are reckoned to be excellent eating. They are closely related to that other larger table fish, the Grouper. Not surprisingly Graysbys do not welcome close scrutiny.



Squirrel Fish never seem to get very large, but they are widespread on both reefs. They seem simultaneously inquisitive and timid when approached for close-ups.



I have never before snapped a spotted drum so I will be watching out to get a better quality image.



The porcupine fish is a variety of puffer that often ends up as another domestic ornament.



Pairs of well camoflaged Porcupine Fish swirl around in the margins of the Foul Bay Channel.



I have done a lot of swimming / free diving from the northern end of Ginger Bay through to the rough water of Foul Bay via the Foul Bay Channel with Rob Lukshif from Ottawa. His lovely wife Elaine would often drive round to save us the walk back.



When Rob and I were diving near the Foul Bay Channel the pirogue Betty came out from her mooring in Foul Bay to check us out.



He had just dropped two spearfishermen near us so Rob is moving off



Betty registered X172 from Bridgetown ....



..... is dwarfed by the surf near the Foul Bay Channel



We saw this beautiful pair of Eagle Rays swimming above their shadows on the sand inside the reef in February 2008.



About fifteen minutes later we spotted this large solitary Eagle Ray in the turbulent waters of the Foul Bay Channel.



Cobblers Reef Stingrays, unlike those in the Red Sea, do not exhibit blue spots.



Divers need to be very lucky to see a Manta Ray near Cobblers Reef



I was on the backside at 15 metres just off BelAir when this next fish glided towards me a couple of metres up. I showed the small camera viewfinder in bright sunlight to Abram and his colleagues who identified it as a "Black Jack" and very good to eat. They implied that they would have been more than happy to see it at that range. I believe its scientific name is Caranx lugubris. It is also known as a Black Trevally.

However James Peirce was able to see the full picture on a computer screen and said "I meant to tell you earlier, the fish you have listed as a Black Jack http://www.reefnews.com/reefnews/photos/blkjack1.html, is actually an African Pompano http://www.landbigfish.com/fish/fish.cfm?ID=197 which the locals call a Moonlight Cavalle. They are quite rare but good eating, and the young ones have very long fins which disappear when they get bigger."



Flying Gurnards are not uncommon in warm water. They usually lie on sandy bottoms with their fins folded. They do not fly, but when disturbed they spread their "wings" or spectacular pelvic fins and disappointingly crawl along the sea bed where they normally scrape with their pectoral fins for shellfish and worms. Hovever if they are chased by true predators they are said to accelerate through the surface film and glide some distance without flapping like flying fish.



On the Sand inside Cobblers reef a number of Sand Dollar shells can be seen.



Off Crane beach numerous waterlogged timbers lie on the sand about halfway out to the top of the inner reef



Although I had swum to the inside of Cobblers reef alone or with other European or North American visitors, the first local guy I accompanied snorkelling and free diving onto the Backside, while he fished was Livingstone Blades. He is a very good freediver and fisherman as well as being a true gentleman. I have not seen so much of him in recent years because he was working for several years on the Grantley Adams construction project and he goes to church on Saturdays. He always seemed to find a couple of decent sized lobsters.



Several iron cannon can be found on the inner reef the most obvious remains of numerous wooden ships that were wrecked here in the days of sail. There are seventeen near the Foul Bay Channel, and at least one off Bottom Bay and another one I know off Sam Lords Castle,close to an unidentified iron or steel hulled wreck which like the cannons is encrusted in coral.

This picture shows Roger Chamley freediving to look at a large cannon in the Foul Bay channel.



This another view of the large cannon Roger was inspecting.



Over the years I have had several swims from Ginger Bay to Foul Bay inspecting the cannons. This shows another shorter, fatter cannon.



In February 2008 Davis's eleven year old son Sebastian Bader swam out from Crane Beach to inspect the cannons with his father Davis and myself.

The swim was almost 2 kilometres each way with quite a strong in current and large powerful seas and surf, so the swim back was quite a bit quicker.



The reef is one of the most important barrier reefs in Barbados protecting the beaches from the strong Atlantic swells.

There are no neighbouring islands off this coast to pollute the waters, and the shipping lanes are downwind and down current to the west of the island, so the reef is largely pristine.

Underwater visibility typically ranges between 20 and 25 metres, below expected Red Sea levels. This seems to be due to a combination of swirling chaotic water movement, freshwater runoff and plankton and other reef particles and sand. When 30 to 40 metres visibility occurs here it seems to be due to a combination of a powerful and persistent non-tidal oceanic current with a prolonged dry spell both commoner in the winter months, and a prolonged calm spell commoner in the summer months.

Residents on the cliff tops at the Crane can look down every day to watch turtles surfacing to breathe in the swell 15 to 35 metres below them.



In January 2006 Trish Newson spotted a large Eagle Ray from her cliff top Penthouse above the Foul Bay Channel.



From time to time we can observe whales, including humpbacks, swimming and occasionally jumping close to the reef.

Commercial dive boat operators seem reluctant to take tourist clients out here during the High (winter) season when strong easterly Trade Winds are prevalent. Most diving on this reef seems to be done by Bajan boat owners and their fortunate diving buddies who are to hand when conditions are right.

Indeed 2 relatively recent prestigious publications about diving in Barbados totally ignore the East and South East coasts:-
"Nearly all the dive sites are concentrated around the west and southwest coasts"
Anonymous. from "Realguide Eastern Caribbean hotspots" page 92 BSAC DIVE magazine July 2004 http://www.divemagazine.co.uk/news/article.asp?SP=&v=1&UAN=34

"The dive sites are spread evenly along the west coast and halfway along the south coast."
Colleen Ryan & Brian Savage. The Complete Diving Guide. The Caribbean. Volume I. 1997.
page 348. Complete Dive Guide Publications,
Corinth, Vermont. http://www.caribdiveguide.com/index.htm Email "thetavolantis@caribdiveguide.com"

Neither of the publications refers to the possibility of diving on the East and South East coasts.

However underwater photographer and author Lucy Agace in her beautifully illustrated "Barbados Dive Guide" , published in 2005 by Miller Publishing Company of Barbados http://www.barbadosbooks.com/barbados_books_details.cfm?BookID=20,



extols the rugged topside beauty of the East Coast, and points out that it is possible to dive the East Coast in the summer months. But her detailed descriptions and beautiful underwater photographs seem to relate to the west and south coasts

Alistair Reynolds Technical Manager of the British Sub Aqua Club



writing of his BARBADOS DIVING HOLIDAY for http://www.bsactravelclub.co.uk/reports/barbados.htm was disappointed by his experience of the East Coast saying "Inspired by the ruggedness of this side of the island and its similarity to UK diving conditions, our group managed to persuade a dive boat, on one trip several years ago, to take us out for a dive on the reef near Sam Lord's Castle, a popular tourist attraction. The conditions were choppy, the dive boat quite unsuitable and once underwater the sea life quite disappointing. We realised why there were no dive centres on this side of the island and could not wait to return to the calm, warm waters of the west."

Diving to 40.2 metres in mid December 2005 my dive computer recorded a minimum temperature of 27 degrees celsius and in August 2005 diving to 39.1 metres it recorded a minimum of 29 degrees. At 26.6 metres in August it recorded a minimum of 30 degrees.

I know what Alistair means however. Although Water and Air temperatures in the shade are in the high twenties to low thirties and the sun is tropically hot, sitting in an open boat in a wet Wetsuit between dives, swept repeatedly by spray and exposed to the thirty kilometre per hour Trade Winds, which are enhanced if the boat is driving into them, can induce a wind chill effect that can lead to chattering teeth and shivering, that is only relieved by getting back into the warm water. When I tell my Canadian friends ashore that I felt cold in Barbados in February they roll on the ground laughing.

One morning in January 2006 I swam to the reef alone and saw 5 stingrays, 4 wild non hand fed turtles, 2 of them together, the other 2 separately





Contrast these with the tame, hand-fed and denatured turtles shown commercially to countless tourists in calm shallow water on the West coast.



On this swim I also saw a 100 centimetre Eagle ray and a 120 centmetre barracuda which followed me closely till I turned and swam towards it. I met a young tourist with a mask and snorkel nearer the beach who complained that he'd seen nothing but sand.

Sadly Alistair was not shown the coral encrusted cannon from wooden ships allegedly or infamously wrecked by the notorious Sam Lord (see picture below), one of a score or more naturally concreted into Cobblers Reef, nor remains of the iron hulled wreck off nearby Bottom Bay.

As he has told me it was "very disappointing to a group of divers that were very experienced. We had to suggest the site to dive. There was very little life on the seabed and it was level at about 10 metres for what appeared to be hours of swimming. Got bored in the end and came up."

The Barbados Coastal Zone Management Unit has a useful Websitehttp://www.coastal.gov.bb/index.cfm. In particular their Coastal Infrastructure Programme (2002 - 2009) http://www.coastal.gov.bb/pageselect.cfm?page=18 lists among others Crane Beach Improvement Project http://www.coastal.gov.bb/pageselect.cfm?page=82. Construction Aerial of Crane Beach http://www.coastal.gov.bb/pageselect.cfm?page=83.



and Existing Conditions Vs. Proposed Conditions http://www.coastal.gov.bb/pageselect.cfm?page=84.



There appears to be a polarisation of diving on Barbados. The West coast is mostly calm, sheltered and diveable for 355 days per year. There are some excellent wrecks mostly shallow in Carlyle Bay, but supremely the Stavronikita lies upright in 30 + metres near Sandy Lane Hotel and she can be penetrated pleasantly and safely with a guide using air and no decompression stops.

The Dive boats cater for every level of diver from the Hotels and Cruise liners. A significant proportion of this lucrative clientelle would be incapacitated by seasickness within 20 minutes on the East Coast, the boat ride round from West to East Coast is long and arduous, and there are few easy launch or mooring sites on the East Coast.

Martins Bay fish market lies on the East Coast to the North of Cobblers Reef.



It is adjacent Martins Bay fishing harbor.

Unlike Skeates Bay and Consett Bay Harbors, Martins Bay has sharp stones and rocks on the beach and in the shallows as well as having no jetty, but Skeates Bay and Consett Bay probably have worse channels and swell.



The guys who run the tourist dive trips on the West Coast are very skilled and well organised, and quite capable of organising diving on the East Coast should there be the call for it. They do go to the East Coast particularly August through November, when the Ocean is calmer,but tourists and cruise ships are then fewer. However the majority of their time is spent on the West where the money currently is.

By contrast the guys on the East Coast mostly use pirogues with little buoyancy, which are more strenuous to pull up into after a dive than a Rigid Inflatable, in sea states that can be alarming. But they are master seamen and know the Ocean. Fishermen know where to fish but not neccessarily where to dive. Some local divers are out all the year in tough conditions and make a living fishing doing hundreds of dives per year. They may not have suitable boats for tourist divers but know the reef, the currents, the sea states and the landmarks.

They may be reluctant to take out tourists unless they know them well, and will not readily be impressed by years of experience elsewhere or paper qualifications, but will take time and lots of observation before risking their lives and livelihoods to unknown visitors. These are the guys capable of providing the best East and South East Coast diving, but for carefully selected clientelle in limited numbers, because the numbers of would-be divers greatly outweigh the limited number of boathandlers / dive leaders capable of and knowledgeable enough to provide the service.

Ivan Moore from Crane St Philip had a good theoretical and practical understanding of Decompression Sickness (DCS) and its avoidance, but could not find a computer that allowed him to dive to the limits that his own physiology could cope with, so he left it at home. We almost always staid an hour in the water with 12 litre air tanks but after a several minutes at 40 metres my computer is easing me back up the reef. 30 minutes into the dive he would be 15 to 20 metres below me, but he comes up to do his stops with about 30 Atmospheres of air in his tank. Second dive shallower of course. He avoided DCS by clever use of a depth gauge and air contents gauge.



GPS is no more efficient than landmarks for position fixing because SCUBA diving out of site of land is impossible, so Ivan leaves his waterproof Garmin Etrex at home.



Depth sounders are redundant when a mask shows the boatman what is underneath. If he can't see the sea bed its too deep. So Ivan was saving his sounder for his next boat.



Buoyancy compensators and octopus rigs produce too much drag and Nitrox is an unprofitable luxury and a lean guy with a tank that will become increasingly buoyant as the dive progresses does not need a weight belt with lead.

Roy Padmore from Crane St Philip is another skilled Scuba shootist, who like Ivan has dispensed with these "essentials".



This telephoto shot is not an abandoned drifting boat.



A few minutes before these guys jumped in the water with their spear guns and returned in due course with their catch.



However Sara Sayers, owner of One On One Scuba in Bridgetown, advertised on her website in September 2005 http://www.one-on-one-scuba.com "Airport Dives for very experienced divers only and only on whole day trips....... Out here is the raw Atlantic Ocean and one can expect to see anything but diving is only possible when weather conditions allow. Depths range from 50ft to past 200ft". I talked to Sara while our tanks were filling in Clapham during August 2005. She clearly enjoyed diving the East and South East Coasts with the right clientelle on the right day. I was unable to access her website in January 2006 and I suspect she has sold her business.

The Definitive Caribbean Travel Guide has a page on Reefers & Wreckers (Category: Dive Operator
Island: Barbados) http://www.definitivecaribbean.com/DiveOperator/ReefersandWreckers.aspx in which they rightly report "the East Coast has very strong currents and diving is therefore limited"

This is a Bajan family business based in Speightstown http://www.scubadiving.bb/. I have also met a couple of their guys filling tanks at Clapham. Not only do they seem to be very fit and knowledgeable, they are also very courteous, and volunteered to let this old diver fill his six tanks before they completed filling their forty tanks one Monday morning in February 2007, but they also helped me to carry them to my 1998 Skoda Felicia, parked beyond their truck.



They told me that when conditions were suitable past the West Coast, they chose to go East round North Point. They seem a great bunch of guys to dive with for routine and more adventurous diving. I hope to check them out before long in the Summer as a different approach to the East Coast. Thank you.

Ecodive barbados http://ecodivebarbados.com/diving.php says "The north and east coast offers adventurous diving, but due to the roughness of the Atlantic sea, diving is seasonal. These different eco systems are what make it so appealing and accommodating to all levels of scuba divers."

Andy Blackford writing on http://www.divernet.com/travel/0201barbados.htm said "The east coast, on the other hand, is a wild and hostile place where the air is filled with spray and the roar of Atlantic breakers. The beaches are empty except for the odd experienced surfer and the shoreline is punctuated by unlikely, romantic pinnacles of rock.
This is where the diving gets interesting, of course, but, as one dive operator told us: "We hardly get to go there in the season. It can get quite choppy. Out of season, on the other hand, it gets seriously rough"
Out of Season for diving refers here to the Winter or High, Tourist Season.

Matt Mindham writing of "Wrecks, Reefs and Relaxation" in http://www.bsactravelclub.co.uk/reports/barbados3.htm said "There are two sides to diving in Barbados. The east coast is open to the elements of the Atlantic Ocean, and conditions here are usually quite rough. Only really diveable in the right season and with many of the dive centres catering for novice divers and cruise ship passengers, the east coast is rarely visited by dive boats. The west coast, however, is protected by the island itself and conditions here are usually calm and tranquil. Without any real tide to speak of, the currents are gentle and diving on this side of the island takes place all year round."

West Side Scuba Centre, Baku Beach, Holetown,(http://www.westsidescuba.com) reported on http://www.footprintguides.com/Barbados/Scuba-diving-Sports.php that "In the summer we dive the east coast." They also say "East Coast diving in the Atlantic offers a different view of our waters, with larger fish and different surroundings with a sometime glimpse of nurse sharks, the ever popular curiosity for divers"

The Caribbean Diving Company http://www.caribdiveco.com/barbados.html report that Barbados is one of the most easterly Caribbean islands and, with its fringing reefs, barrier type banking reefs and multiple wrecks, has become a prime diving location.

Most of the diving around the island is on the South and West coasts, with dive sites accessible throughout the year.

Encouragingly Dive Barbados http://www.divebds.com/divesites.php, The Dive Shop Ltd located at Pebbles Beach, address Aquatic Gap, Bay St. St. Michael. P.O.Box 44-B lists among its dive sites: -

"EAST COAST: Consett Bay to Bathsheba ~ 30’ – 130’ ~ On the Atlantic side of the island, there are about ten (10) different sites available depending on the weather conditions as seas are usually rough. Best times are in the summer months. Plenty of big fish including sharks can be seen here." Their website includes a picture of a nurse shark as well as a lobster, elkhorn coral and a reef shark all taken on the East Coast, and also nice client u/w pix from other parts of the island.

Divepro based in St Lawrence Gap offers in their leaflet "Special dives to 'The Fathom Barbados' longest barrier reef.
East Coast wall diving (conditions allowing)"

On their Website http://www.diveprobarbados.com/diving2.html they say "Consett Bay to Bathsheba (Depth 30 - 130 ft)
On the Atlantic side of the island there are about ten different sites depending on the weather conditions as seas are usually rough. Best time is in the summer months when plenty of big fish including sharks can be seen here."

It is because of the difficulty of pulling together published information about this reef that this website has been prepared.

Many tourists and Crane Residents insist that very few boats can be seen on this coast compared to the West Coast. This is true in part but partly illusion. Cruise liners only ocasionally seem to make a passage past this reef,



but Container ships can be seen fairly frequently heading to Europe, the Med or North Africa from Trinidad or Venezuela. Large Yachts are commoner but usually closer to the distant Horizon from a penthouse on a 25 to 30 metre cliff. The cliff top horizons here are much more extensive than the beach views on the flat West Coast.



but telephoto reveals more details.



Jet skis thankfully are absent replaced by surf boards or kite boards. Kite surfing in the rough waters inside Cobblers Reef looks to be a very strenuous and skilled sport. It is non polluting unlike the jet skis on the West Coast.



Small 4 metre long fishing and diving boats are not always easily spotted in the 3 to 4 metre high swell that is usual outside the reef, but most days several go past.

Most passing boats seem to be from Oistins, but on calmer days we see charter Fishing boats with Tuna towers from Bridgetown and of course "ice boats" from Bridgetown or Oistins on a long Odyssey to catch Flying Fish, Dolphin, Tuna and Marlin in the Ocean. A percentage of the passing boats are from Consett, Skeates Bay or Martins Bay. Occasional local boats are from Castle, Crane or in season Foul Bay.



and when I am watching from the cliffs or beach I feel green with envy. This time a long lens is not neccessary as I am soon out in Ivan's boat checking out the "Dolphin" X167.



The Coastguard cutter seems to run a patrol close in on calm days, but in August an September a flotilla of small pirogues file past.

In February 2007 a cable laying ship trolled slowly past the reef and then up and out, apparently as for landfall in the Canaries.



It is unusual to see a sailing craft inside Cobblers Reef except in the calmer late summer months like this catamaran off Beachy Head



In February 2008 a large Barbados Coastguard ship patrolled outside Cobblers Reef five miles off the beach in rough seas. A surveillance balloon was anchored over Crane village and soldiers with machine guns walked along Crane Beach. The new prime Minister and his new ministers were holding a government conference in the ballroom of the Crane resort. It caused almost as much excitement as when Sir Mick Jagger spent a night in the resort a week later.



This Cruise Liner heading for Europe was fifteen Km outside the breaking surf of inner Cobblers Reef in March 2008.



Diving on the East and South East Coasts of Barbados is generally more challenging than on the South and West coasts and it is usually more rewarding as an oceanic rather than a Caribbean diving location. Many Bajans are the finest natural swimmers, seamen, boathandlers, fishermen and divers, as befits an island closely linked for for almost four centuries with seamen, fishermen and divers of another North Atlantic oceanic island in much colder waters.

Many Bajans free dive or Scuba Dive from small but traditional Pirogues, that would easily be swamped without excellent seamanship. This picture shows five Pirogues on Foul Bay Beach. In the foreground is Navijeb, Ivan Moore's four metre pirogue, hauled up for repairs in March 2006. The male model is of course not Ivan.



They may dive accompanied by a boat handler / coxswain / skipper on the bigger boats, but frequently leave no one in the boat to which they must return unaided in spite of strong currents and swells that make the boat difficult to see.

One of the best and most knowledgeable SCUBA dive leader/boat owners on this reef was local entrepreneur Ivan Moore of Sandbanks Beach Club, Crane, St Philip. He moored his boat locally but not on Foul Bay. Ivan's boat was four metres long with a 15 HP Yamaha motor and no bouyancy.

The size of Ivan's boat can be readily gauged when he returned from his pots and passed under the Crane cliffs on a calm day.



He navigated 6 metre swells, and bigger breaking surf, which would terrify me if someone other than Ivan were driving the boat.

A slight or sharper turn of the tiller, a gentle increase or decrease of the throttle at the right second, is all that saved us from being swamped. Fortunately he knew the reef and the Ocean.



"KB" another local Barbadian fishes this coast and reef from his boat kept at Consett. I was pleased to receive an invitation on this website to go fishing with him. KB must know the reef extremely well because he lives on Foul Bay and his boat seems to be out a lot. In February 2007 he is cruising in his boat to Grenada; this is surely quite a serious passage at this time of year.

Crane Beach Life Guard Ricky Browne




is a good free diver and SCUBA diver. He is particularly good at spotting lobsters no-one else can see.

Local freedivers often swim to the inner reef to catch fish, a swim of about 20 minutes each way. Scuba diving without a boat is feasible, but requires about two and a half hours to swim there and back with a tank and equipment, including diving to the bottom of the inner reef. Strong currents, swell, surge and sharp, shallow coral at the top of the reef may increase the hazards of such a dive. If the dive is planned well and executed according to plan, decompression should not be a problem, because the dive should finish just outside the top of the reef.

The Ocean was relatively calm one Saturday in March 2003, while a mother Humpback Whale jumped repeatedly just near the Foul Bay Channel while watching her baby swimming on the surface. Her fluke was impressive. She swam close to her calf.
Notice the large white flipper underwater and the exhaled spray.



In January 2007 James Peirce photographed 2 large killer whales 15 miles off Cobblers Reef.



Killer Whales unlike Humpbacks and Sperm Whales are unusual in the Caribbean region.



They were attacking and devouring a smaller whale. The head was retrieved and identified as an extremely rare Pygmy Sperm Whale.



I have had some exciting Cobblers Reef shore dives and boat dives with my Barbadian friend, Roger Goddard proprietor of Cutters of Barbados, http://www.cutters.bb pictured here with his winsome wife Kim,



Roger's brother David, Paul Doyle Canadian proprietor of the Crane resort http://www.thecrane.com, my Brit friend Roger Chamley, a veteran of many dives in the UK, Europe and the Red Sea, together with Roger Goddard's Danish friend Bo Fusager Johnsen from the Grantley Adams airport project. Boat dives have been courtesy of Ivan Moore though Bo, who is a keen underwater photographer has also dived with local divers from Consett north of Ragged point.

Ivan and I have shore dived from Martins Bay beach on the North East Coast of the island, not an easy entry or exit with Scuba gear, choppy conditions and bare feet on the rough rocks in water too shallow to swim in for about the first 20 to 30 metres, though local commercial fishermen with tougher soles to their feet than me, swim their catch ashore in sacks routinely.



The reef structure and life patterns in Martins Bay seemed very different from sunny Cobblers reef. Because of north facing vertical 25 metre underwater cliffs and gullies relatively close to the beach not much sunlight seems to penetrate and m