Venezuela | Independent holidays | Active & adventure | Diving

Diving, windsurfing and bone-fishing

Diving

The best diving in Venezuela is on Los Roques, and it is world class. The reefs provide exceptionally varied environments with highly localised fluctuations in temperature, rough and calm waters, light and shade, and nutrient content. There are impressive pinnacles, enormous caves and coral gardens. Walls of soft coral and sea whips descend more than 60m. Wreck sites date back to C16th pirates.

Conditions underwater are very natural: many of the sites are new to diving and most species have not had the sort of human contact to change their behaviour. Experts say this is the kind of diving once found in the Caribbean 20 years ago, but almost nonexistent today. Mostly it is gentle, easy drift diving. Water temperatures are typically about 30°C (85°F), but at some sites thermoclynes can cut this to 25°F (77°F). Visibility goes from 12 to 30m (40-100ft).

Los Roques best suits intermediate and experienced divers, though there are facilities for beginners too. PADI courses can be arranged, including Scuba Diver, Open Water Diver, Advanced OWD, and Rescue Diver.

Remember not to dive less than 12hr before flying (24hr if you have been diving for more than 2 days continuously).

Wind/kitesurfing

Venezuela offers world-class windsurfing, and more recently kitesurfing, at El Yaque on Margarita Island and nearby Coche Island, at Los Roques, and at Adicora near the sand dunes of Coro. You surf at your own risk and must have full insurance.

We provide accommodation at a choice of 3* hotels in El Yaque dedicated to windsurfing, with lots of high performance equipment rigged and ready. The wind blows side shore with shallows for nearly 300 yards offshore with no undertows: great for learners.

Coche Island is best for intermediate windsurfers and above. Water starts are usual as the wind blows directly offshore. The flat windy waters are perfect for jibes, tricks, and flat-out speed. You stay at a hotel on Coche or go by day trip from Margarita.

At Los Roques you stay in the posadas. Windsurfing equipment can be rented locally, kitesurfers must take own gear. Windsurfers sail flat water to nearby islands, or choose bump and jump conditions and side shore waves. Best for intermediate or above. Sail sizes are typically 4.0 to 7.0. The season is January to June.

Kitesurfing is stupendously risky. Only experienced surfers with a reckless regard for the likelihood of broken bones and worse should contemplate it.

Bonefishing

Los Roques also offers excellent bonefishing, widely considered the most exciting saltwater fly-fishing. We provide a boat and local fishing guide. Cast from the boat or on sand flats. You bring your own equipment (size 8 rods). Maximum two fishermen per boat.

 

About diving at Los Roques

Los Roques is an archipelago of 50 coral islands and over 200 banks, islets and reefs. Declared a marine national park in 1972, the coral has had very little human impact and Los Roques is increasingly rated as one of the best dive sites in the Caribbean.

Reef conditions

The reefs provide exceptionally varied environments with highly localised fluctuations in temperature, rough and calm waters, light and shade, and nutrient content. There are impressive pinnacles, enormous caves and coral gardens. Walls of soft coral and sea whips descend more than 60m. Wreck sites date back to C16th pirates.

Marine species

The variety of marine species is impressive. In shallower water (to 10m) amid Great Star, Grooved Brain, Elkhorn and Staghorn Corals you find many good reef species such as Royal Blue Angelfish, Butterfly-fish, Midnight, Blue and Rainbow Parrotfish, slender Trumpet Fish, Bluehead and Ocean Surgeon Fish. On the reef bank (-15 to -35m) corals have a plate shaped habit as an adaptation to the lower light levels, sedimentation and currents. Here there’s sunray lettuce coral, knobbly cactus coral, giant anemone, mat zoanthid, deepwater sea fan, branching tube, loggerhead and natted barrel sponges. The sponges play host to a wide array of molluscs, crustaceans, fish and other organisms.

On the mini-walls of Cayo Sal (-38m) contrastingly coloured queen and French angelfish weave out of healthy black gorgonians and bright orange elephant ear sponges. The pinnacles which rise from the ocean floor attract an abundance of pelagics with schools of Horse-eye Jacks and mackerel, Rainbow Runners, morays and many more.

Caves

Caves, one as large as St Paul’s Cathedral, hold silversides, minnow, scad and tarpon, lobsters, shrimps, boga, jacks, permits, Jewfish, Spotted Eagle Rays and Blackbar Soldierfish. 

Deepwater species

Along the flanks of submerged mountains, snappers, groupers and jacks look on while barracudas cruise in precise formation and stingrays lurk on the sandy bottom. In deeper water there are dolphins, barracudas, nurse sharks, eagle rays, manta rays and enormous screens of plankton.

Lagoon shallows

Other areas of bright shallow water (0.5 to -6m) are composed of sea grass beds which create the perfect labyrinth of nutrient rich water in which fish can spawn, hide and mature. This is a refuge for cushion sea stairs, sea cucumbers, sea worms and molluscs like the Queen conch. One species, turtle grass, is the preferred food of green turtles.

Underwater conditions

Conditions underwater are very natural: many of the sites are new to diving and most species have not had the sort of human contact to change their behaviour. Experts say this is the kind of diving once found in the Caribbean 20 years ago, but almost nonexistent today. Mostly it is gentle, easy drift diving.
Water temperature is typically about 30°C (85°F), but at some sites thermoclynes can cut this to 25°F (77°F). Visibility goes from 12 to 30m (40-100ft).

Beginner/intermediate/experienced divers

Los Roques best suits intermediate and experienced divers, though there are facilities for beginners too. PADI courses can be arranged, including Scuba Diver, Open Water Diver, Advanced OWD, and Rescue Diver, but the availability of courses on any particular day can be somewhat haphazard.

 

Los Roques from the plane from Caracas

Suggested itinerary

Diving

› Land based diving at Los Roques

For windsurfing, bonefishing etc please call us.