Top Snorkeling and Scuba Diving in Haiti

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The site is a wall on the eastern face of the island. The bottom has large boulders to swim around and is mostly a rock surface with small coral formations here and there. The fish life is surprisingly limited given the rocks there that offer shelter. The surge can be considerable especially as long shore currents and wind generate wave action. It is better to dive in the mornings before the swells start to form in the afternoons. The site must be accessed by boat from Bord de Mer which is a 10 minute drive from the main road between Cap Haitien and Limbe. The fishermen are more than happy to help given fishing has become increasingly difficult with the decline of coastal fish stocks. You can hire a boat to row you over to the Islet de Bas-Limbe and ask the fishermen to follow your bubble while you are submerged.

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.

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.

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.

A gradual slope to 10-11 meters with hard coral formations in the 3-5 meter zone. Lots of small wrasses, fingerprint cowry and nudibranch to be seen. A 10-15 minute boat ride from Labadie taxi boat port.

Named after a jellyfish due to its shape, the northern part is a wall dropping to 12-15 meters with hard and soft corals. Pelagics will come near the reef like barracuda in search of smaller fish. A 20 minute boat ride from the Labadie taxi boat port. The reef is shallow in places and one must be careful in doing a back roll entry not to do so over too shallow an area.

The depth increases gradually from the entry north of the wreck towards the North. A compass is good to have so as not to lose your bearings as the bottom can get close to flat. Some hard corals growing on the rock substrate but it looks as if a storm may have passed over, destroying some in the past few years. You must hire a Labadie taxi boat to take you to this site. It takes about 20-25 minutes to get there. It is hard to miss with the grounded tanker as a clear visible marker above the water.

The bottom drops gradually and is relatively flat with interspersed coral outcroppings. Some hard corals and little soft coral. Lettuce leaf hard coral formations especially common. One must hire a taxi from the Labadie taxi boat port. The trip time is form 20-25 minutes. It is a bit hard to locate as you have to distinguish from other shoals in the area. A GPS would be helpful in locating this site.

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.

The best entry is directly south of Fort La Bouque where there are two cuts in the walls of the bay's entrance. You can easily walk into the water over sand and grass beds to a coral garden. After a short swim you will reach the wall's edge. Lots to see, including trumpetfish, barracuda, cleaner shrimp, lots of wrasse. There are all kinds of soft corals and sponges as well. If you are lucky you will find the chain that was once used to block the bay. Also, in the area are an anchor and a large long cannon. One can access the site either by boat or by land. Boats can be hired from Fort Liberte but one must be ready to deal with engine trouble as the motors are not maintained as they should. The other way is to take a dirt path around the East side of the bay to Fort Labouque on the tip of the eastern side of the entrance of the bay. There are many dirt tracks and in order not to get lost always take the left in order to follow the edge of the bay to the Fort.

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.

Rock Steps has a good number of hard corals including acropora and brain. One can also find very large barrel sponges at this site. Where many sites in Haiti are sadly lacking in fish, this site is visited by schools of fish. There is often presence of a long shore current and having a boat there to allow for a leisurely drift dive is the best way to go. Named after the rock steps formed naturally on the shore, this site is best accessed by boat from Ft. Liberte but can also be accesses by road. About 20 meters from the turn off to Ft. Liberte from the main highway is a dirt road going East. Take this road and at every crossroads take a right to stay close to the edge of the bay. This will eventually take you to Fort Labouque. From Ft. Labouque, Rock Steps is a considerable walk along the shore. The entry from shore is over a rocky bottom with sea urchins and one must take care in walking over the rocks. It is doable but hiring a boat is the safest method.

The reef is very interesting as it is cut through by large channels where water movement in and out of the Caracol bay has eroded the reef away. The reef does not have lots of coral growth on it but it attracts fish due to its irregular formation. To get to the Caracol Reef you need to hire a boat from Ft. Lberte town. There are a number of fishermen who will take you for the day for the equivalent of $30-40 USD. From Ft. Liberte and one of the 40hp motors, they can get you to the center of the outer part of the reef in 15-20 min. There you have to do a backwards roll entry as the boat are too small for a giant stride. The return to the boat will require that you hand all your gear to the boat driver and with your fins still on you will have to do a hard fin kick to get back in the boat.

The site is marked with lots of tube sponges and purples sea fans. There is quite some cover in hard corals at this site as well. If you get a chance to see the Fort Labouque, it is interesting with a subterranean chamber in the middle which goes all around the fort. Several cannons are still on the site. Site name given after the fort which is just on the eastern shore of the mouth to the Ft. Liberte bay. The site can be reached by either hiring a fisherman in Ft. Liberte or driving out to the site and doing a shore entry. The drive is tricky as there are many dirt tracks leading out to the fort. Remember to always take the left on the way out and always the right on the way back so you don't get lost. Entry by boat is backwards roll as for the shore entry it is very rocky and boots are a necessity. Watch out for sea urchins in this area.