Ouest Department

Haiti

It's beautiful, it's hot!  Water is clear and temperature is above 80F degrees, air temperature around 100 degrees (37C +).  Scuba equipment and air compressors are very limited in Haiti. Nearest decompression (hyperbaric) chamber is located in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba or Santo Domingo, Rep. Dominicana. Ask you hotel about Scuba diving facilities and boat availability.

Arcadins Islands are 3 small cays 10 miles 90 degrees east of Ile de la Gonave and 5 miles 270 degrees west of Cote de Arcadins (mainland Haiti).  Easily accessible from Kaliko beach and Wahoo beach (5 miles away) and Arcahaie (10 miles away). There is a navigation light (lighthouse) on one of the cays.  Port-au-Prince is 25 miles south.

Iles des Arcadins is also known as Arcadins Islands.

Corridor Gangny

Iles des Arcadins

You will love this place!!! Amani beach is a a beautiful pristine white sandy beach about one mile west of St. Marc.  The wreckage of the Mary Celeste (sank Dec. 1884) is located 9.65 miles, 101.2 degrees west from the rockwall (5.5 miles from shore).  Amani beach is also the site of the infamous "Zombie hole", 200 meters deep reef which features large "Elephant Ears" fan coral, sponge tubes, black coral, blue tang, sea orchins, and many more. There are no facilities (showers, restrooms, restaurants) at this location.  You must travel to St. Marc (1 mile) a small fishing village and charcoal shipping port to get the very basic items.  Plan for outdoor camping -- take everything you need including plenty of drinking water food & gasoline/diesel cans. It's deadly hot in the summer - temp. over 100F,(35C). The nearest hyperbaric (recompression) chamber is located at a naval station in the Dominican Republic. If you get the Bends, you are toast! Also, medical facilities are very limited outside Port-au-Prince. Check with your embassy before you travel to Haiti. 

For the "Newbees": From Port-au-Prince, drive 50 miles heading north-west via Highway 1 (Rue Nationale) to St. Marc. Turn left on St. Marc and drive 1.15 miles on the dirt road overlooking the ocean and beach below. Park near the cliff and walk down to the beach toward the palm trees, rockwall and straw umbrellas (looks like a rest area). For the "Veterans": Walk on the sandy beach toward the deep blue ocean. It's right in front of you! The wreckage of the "Mary Celeste" (sank Dec. 1884) is located 9.65 miles, 101.2 degrees west from the rockwall (or 5.5 miles from the closest shore).  Amani beach is also the site of the infamous "Zombie hole", 200 meters deep reef which features large "Elephant Ears" fan coral, sponge tubes, black coral, blue tang, sea orchins, and many more. Don't expect to see fish everywhere, overfishing is a problem in Haiti.  From Cap Haitien's airport: Drive 100 miles south-west via Highway 1 to St. Marc and 1 mile west on the dirt road to Amani beach.

Saint Marc Beach is also known as Amani Beach, St. Marc, Haiti.

Saint Marc Beach

This site requires a bit of a walk/swim to get across approximately 30 meters of sea grass beds.  Once past the sea grass, there is a nice patch of soft corals and sponges interspersed with some hard corals.  

For Haiti, where overfishing is a serious problem, this site offers some fish including butterfly fish, wrasses, tangs, and small bright red gobies. 

The visibility can be low if after a big rain where water brings sediments down from the land.  On the other hand, the site is nicely protected from long shore currents in the mouth of the bay. 

The site is inaccessible by land.  One must hire a fishing boat from either Balan or Piatre, both towns in the Baie de l'Acul.  With a 10-15 hp outboard (about all you can find with the small fishermen) the ride takes from 20-30 min to Lemon Beach. 

Lemon Beach

The top part of the reef is heavily covered in purple sea fans.  It drops down via a wall with interesting sponges and soft corals covering it.  One can find lots of arrow crabs, feathery tube worms and brightly colored corals on this reef. 

This site requires hiring a boat from Balan or Piatre ports in Baie de l'Acul (40min boat ride) or a taxi boat from Labadie village Taxi port (40 min boat ride).  The fringing reef is very shallow and may not allow access to the beach at low tide.  

Dive access can be done from the beach at higher tides and requires a bit of a swim to get to the edge of the reef. 

Powder Beach Reef

The site is characterized by a fringing reef with fans and soft corals.  A good place to spot squid and flamingo tongue snails on the purple sea gorgonian fans.  It is wise to have a boat to follow you on the dive as the current can be swift giving you no choice but to do a drift dive. Long shore currents are frequently from East to West as prevailing winds are from the Northeast.  Best to dive in the mornings when the North coast gets less waves and wind. 

To get to Trois Maries you need to hire a boat from Baie de l'Acul - Balan or Piatre small ports (30min) or hire  a boat taxi from Labadie (45 min.). Each will cost 1500 - 2000 gourdes or 40-50 USD round trip.  The barrier reef is only accessible from a boat as the nearby beach is surrounded by very shallow reef.  

Trois Maries

The reef at this site has more stag horn coral that seem to be home to more fish.  The Western side of the site is more abundant in reef life.  

The site is an old cruise ship resort destination but has been abandoned for 20 years.  There are walls still standing where buildings used to be but everything else has been removed.  The beach is beautiful with white sand and lots of shade trees. A great place for a picnic surface interval. 

This site can only be reached by boat.  A taxi boat from Labadie taxi port can get you there in about 25 minutes.  The cost is around 1000 Gourdes or 25 USD (Aug. 09). There is an old pier structure where the boat can accost and let passengers off. 

The beach is sandy and has a gradual slope, there are coral reefs to both sides of the beach. The slopes are gradual as well. 

Cachal Reef

The reef off Paradise Beach is mostly soft corals with some hard brain corals interspersed among them.  There is a high concentration of fire coral, so be careful to stay well above the coral to avoid getting stung. There are patches of staghorn coral with fish hiding in the.  The fish life is rather sparse as is the case with much of coastal Haiti but there are still some wrasses, parrotfish, tangs and surgeonfish to study as you swim by.  This site has a good number of purple gorgonian fans as well. Always fun to inspect for a flamingo tongue snail. 

To get to Paradise you need to take a Boat Taxi from Labadie village taxi port.  The 20 minute ride costs 1,000 Gourdes (Aug 09) or approximately 25 USD for the round trip.  Once on the beach the entry is a gradual sandy slope dropping down quickly to 13 meters over a short distance where it levels off again at about 18meters to a sandy bottom. 

Paradise Beach is also known as Malfini.

Paradise Beach

The site has coral and sandy bottom interspersed.  Interesting fish life with stingray and eel spotting.  Some reef fish but not overly abundant.  There are many sponges and sea fans with staghorn coral in between.  

It is best to have a hire boat taxi on the surface as the current can pick up especially in the afternoons.  This will allow you to do a leisurely drift dive without having to surface swim back against the current. 

Like with Cachal Beach, you will need to hire a taxi boat.  See Cachal for details. 

Cachal Point

Prepare yourself to be the center of attention as you suit up as there are few divers who come to Chouchou bay and the kids really enjoy commenting on all the stuff divers carry into the water.  

This site can be challenging if there is a current as it can push you into the wall where there may be fire coral.  Also, depending on tides, the swell can also be an issue. With swell also comes bad visibility here because the beach is a fine white sand which is easily suspended in the water with the wave action.  Check your tide tables before making the long trip out there as current and swell will make for a mediocre dive. 

About one hour drive West from Cap Haitien Chouchou bay is located on the North coast.  One must drive the National road #1 to the intersection that goes to Port Margot at which point you take a right.  Go through Port Margot for another approximately 10 kms.  After going over a small bridge over a mangrove area, start looking on the right for an opening to the bay.  Park in the first opening without houses for easy access to the beach.  

As can be seen in the Google image, the best place to enter the site is just east of the coral formations on the western end of the beach.  During low tide this is really the only option as the coral is above water level and hard to walk on due to its irregular surface.  Once you have enough depth you can descend and follow the small coral wall to the West.  

Chouchou Bay

Once to the site the shoal offers a top with sea grass with lots of snails and urchins.  

Around the periphery there are coral formations where fish and eels have been spotted. 

These tear drop shaped shoals are accessible by taxi boat from the Labadie port.  They take about 15 minutes to reach on one of the 15 hp motorized boats.  


Tear Drops - 50 Turquoise Shoals

Western side of the island is characterized by rock gullies interspersed with some sot corals.  The south eastern side has more soft coral, fans and coral outcroppings.  A local hotel owner leases the island and has installed a number of artificial reefs that have interesting corals and sponges growing on them. 

You must hire a boat form either Baie de l'Acul or from Labadie to take you there.  Once on the island the best place to enter is the South shore as entering from anywhere else requires some swimming to clear the small barrier reef around the island. 

Isla Amiga is also known as Isle Arat.

Iles des Arcadins

Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at Iles des Arcadins