A sheltered sailing-and-diving archipelago whose marquee dive is the RMS Rhone, an 1867 Royal Mail steamer protected since 1980 as the BVI's first marine national park, surrounded by easy warm-water pinnacles, painted gullies, and a growing fleet of artificial reefs.
Destination info
Conditions, highlights, and the resident marine life.
Conditions
Water and air temperature across the year.
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Description
The British Virgin Islands are first a sailing destination, and most diving happens from day boats or rendezvous pick-ups at charter anchorages along the Sir Francis Drake Channel. The headline act is the RMS Rhone, a 94 m Royal Mail steamer that broke in two on Black Rock Point off Salt Island in the October 1867 San Narciso Hurricane, killing about 123 people; her coral-crusted bow lies in roughly 24 m, the stern in 9 m, the site doubled as the underwater set for the 1977 film The Deep, and the surrounding waters became the territory's first marine national park in 1980. Beyond the Rhone the diving is honest Caribbean fare — warm (26–29°C), often 18–30 m of visibility, mostly light current, and easy-to-moderate sites: the snorkel-friendly Indians pinnacles, sponge-painted gullies at Painted Walls, the swell-exposed Blonde Rock pinnacle, mushroom corals at Alice in Wonderland, and a deliberate wreck collection that includes Wreck Alley off Cooper Island, the big-fish Chikuzen far offshore, and the kraken-wrapped Kodiak Queen art reef sunk in 2017. Hurricane Irma devastated the territory in September 2017, but the dive sites recovered and storm debris was even turned into new artificial reefs. It is not a big-animal destination — come for wrecks, history, and relaxed conditions, ideally April–August between winter swells and peak hurricane season (June–November).
Highlights
What makes this dive worth the trip.
The RMS Rhone, a 94 m (310 ft) Royal Mail Steam Packet Company steamer, struck Black Rock Point off Salt Island and broke in two during the San Narciso Hurricane on 29 October 1867, killing roughly 123 people; the bow settled in about 24 m of water and the stern in about 9 m, and the site was designated a national park in 1980 — making it one of the Caribbean's most storied wreck dives.
The submerged wreck of the RMS Rhone off Salt Island is formally protected under the National Parks Trust of the Virgin Islands' historical-preservation and marine-conservation programmes, which manage the territory's parks to safeguard coral habitat and historic fabric — artifact removal is prohibited and dive boats use park moorings rather than anchors.
The Rhone earned a second life in cinema: scenes for the 1977 film The Deep, with Jacqueline Bisset, were shot on the wreck — a claim to fame operators still trade on, and one reason the site draws divers who would otherwise never plan a trip around a single wreck.
Marine life
36 species you’re likely to encounter on a dive here.
Dive sites
8 signature sites at this destination.
The Indians
Four rocky pinnacles rising about 15 m from the seabed to roughly 15 m above the surface between Norman Island and Pelican Island, ringed by some ten mooring buoys. A shallow saddle at about 2 m opens into a protected pool with swim-throughs, while the outer faces are draped in gorgonians and hard corals down to the sand at about 15 m; a small cave on the east side holds a school of glassy sweepers. Marine life is classic Caribbean reef — blue chromis, creole wrasse, rock beauties, black durgons — and the site is equally good as a snorkel, which makes it one of the busiest moorings in the BVI; arrive before noon to beat the charter-boat crowds.
1–15 mbeginnerDay boatLightVisibility 15–30 m
RMS Rhone
The wreck of an 1865-launched iron-hulled Royal Mail steamer that sank off Salt Island in the 1867 San Narciso Hurricane, now the centrepiece of the BVI's first marine national park (1980). She lies in two sections usually dived as two separate dives: the largely intact bow at around 24–26 m, where the foremast, crow's nest, and coral-coated hull plates shelter dense fish life, and the shallow stern at 9–12 m with the 4.6 m bronze propeller, drive shaft, the 'lucky porthole' divers rub for luck, and scattered wrenches and dinnerware from 1867. Resident green morays, turtles, and a famously territorial barracuda patrol the wreck, and the stern section makes a superb night dive. Scenes from the 1977 film The Deep were shot here; artifact removal is prohibited under marine-park rules.
9–26 mintermediateDay boatLightVisibility 15–30 m
Blonde Rock
A plateau-like pinnacle in open water between Dead Chest and Salt Island, rising from a sandy bottom at about 18–20 m to within roughly 5 m of the surface. Ledges, tunnels, overhangs, and caverns are crusted with fire coral, cup corals, and bright sponges, sheltering lobsters, crabs, blackbar soldierfish, and thick schools of snapper and jacks, with sharks and turtles passing through. The exposed position means high swell on many days — it is a weather-dependent site that operators skip when conditions are up, and the surge plus open-water setting push it toward experienced divers despite the modest depth.
5–20 madvancedDay boatLightVisibility 12–25 m
Wreck Alley
A cluster of four vessels purpose-sunk as artificial reefs on the sand off Cooper Island: the cargo boats Marie L and Island Seal, the tug Pat, and the well-preserved tug Beata. The wrecks sit close enough together to tour on a single dive to about 26 m, each at a different stage of colonisation, with schooling fish, rays, and the occasional shark working the structures. It is a deliberately created site rather than a historic one — a good second wreck day after the Rhone, and a window on how quickly bare steel turns into reef in these waters. Depth and the open-sand setting make it a dive for comfortable, deeper-rated divers.
15–26 madvancedDay boatLightVisibility 12–25 m
Wreck of the Chikuzen
A 75 m former refrigeration vessel that was set on fire and cast adrift from St. Maarten ahead of a 1981 storm, finally sinking in open water roughly 12 km north of Tortola. She lies on her port side on featureless sand at about 23–24 m, the starboard rail reaching up to around 15 m, with three cargo holds enterable through open hatches and the hull well covered in coral and sponge. As the only structure for miles, the wreck concentrates life: a resident goliath grouper, big schools of jacks, pompano, and mackerel, stingrays, turtles, and a real (if never guaranteed) chance of sharks — even a whale shark has been recorded here. The long, exposed open-ocean run means trips only go in settled weather and operators treat it as an advanced dive.
14–24 madvancedDay boatModerateVisibility 15–30 m
Painted Walls
Four long gullies off the southern point of Dead Chest Island whose walls are coated in encrusting corals and sponges in yellows, reds, oranges, and purples — the 'paint' that names the site. Canyons, a narrow cave, and pillar corals anchored on the sandy bottom give the shallow terrain plenty of structure, with most diving between about 6 and 18 m. Hawksbill turtles, nurse sharks, tarpon hanging over clouds of silversides, green morays, and lobsters are the regulars. The exposed point picks up surge when a south swell runs, which can turn an easy dive into a washing machine — operators time it for calm days.
6–18 mbeginnerDay boatLightVisibility 12–25 m
Kodiak Queen (BVI Art Reef)
A WWII US Navy fuel barge (YO-44) believed to be one of only five vessels to survive the attack on Pearl Harbor, later an Alaskan crab boat, rescued from the scrapyard and sunk off Virgin Gorda in April 2017 as an art reef wrapped in a giant mesh-and-rebar kraken sculpture with 24 m arms. The wreck sits in about 20 m with the superstructure rising to roughly 5 m below the surface, making it accessible to most certification levels. A record swell event shifted the ship about 30 feet and damaged the kraken's head, but tentacles still drape the hull, and the site now serves as a coral out-planting platform and goliath grouper rehabilitation area, with turtles, growing corals, and thriving fish schools — and notably few lionfish.
5–20 mbeginnerDay boatLightVisibility 12–25 m
Alice in Wonderland
A garden of giant mushroom-shaped star and brain coral heads — the formations that named the site — on the southwest side of uninhabited Ginger Island, where long fingers of reef separated by sandy canyons run from about 11 m down to 23 m. Pillar corals and green and purple sea fans fill out one of the healthiest coral landscapes in the territory, and the sand channels are patrolled by southern stingrays and spotted eagle rays, with hawksbill turtles, barracuda, groupers, and the occasional reef shark along the ridges. Visibility often exceeds 30 m. Low current makes the diving relaxed, though the open southern exposure brings moderate swell some days.
11–23 mintermediateDay boatLightVisibility 18–30 m
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