Dive Review of Special/La Sirena in
Anguilla

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Special/La Sirena, Jan, 2004, by Lucius, MN, USA . Report 1546.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Well it all started on a trip to Cozumel in November of 2004. My girlfriend was going to meet me in Cozumel after I had been their diving for a week. I was going to ask her to marry me (on my dive slate) while drift diving the Santa Rosa Wall. However, she turned up for a week with a cold and ear infection. Well, there went my plan to ask her while we dove. I really did not know what to do so I asked her just before she got back on the plane for the States, and I explaned how I had it all planned out to get married if she had said yes while we were in Cozumel. Will to make a long story short, she said yes and we decided to go to Saba to tie the knot. When I got back to the states a week after she did I found out that it would take a couple of months for the Saba goverment to put together the paper work (red tape). Saba was out and Anguilla was in. The reason was, you only need to be on the island three days to get married and the diving was suppose to be pretty good. Ok, there are alot of other islands that take three days two get married. The main reason was the diving (don't tell my new bride). We stayed at the La Sirena at Meads Bay (www.la-sirena.com) in a side by side duplex one bedroom with an airy living room, breakfast room, and kitchen with a front porch that had plenty of space for drying dive gear. It had its own little drive way to park a rental car and the walk to the beach was about 200 feet. Most every day the beach was empty and very private because most people stay and go to the beach at Shole Bay. The food was good and the staff goes out of there way to make sure your stay is comfortable. I would drive every morning about 10 min. to Sandy Ground were Special "D" Diving would leave for the daily AM two tank dive. The 30' dive boat is locally made (like most boats) with twin 150 HP outboards, center counsel drive, with comfortable side bench seats with plenty of room for up to 10 divers. Most every dive never had more then 10 divers and on most days 6 to 8. We were pretty limited to only the AM two tank dive every day because the weather for a week was very windy and the seas were 4-8 ft rough and choppy. The owner (Doug Carty)and dive master was always very professional, environmentally careful, and very safety conscious. The visibility was limited because of the weather however, the dive usually started with a wreck for the first dive then a reef on the second. The coral is very healthy with elkhorn limited due to the last hurricane that ripped most of it up some years ago. Lots of wrecks, healthy fan coral, lobsters, nurse sharks, eels, large turtles, spotted eagle rays, large spotted drums, large schools of atlantic spadefish, and plenty of small stuff for the macro shots. I was pretty impressed and have definately put Anguilla on my list of "I will be backs". It seems to be growing pretty fast and they just completed an expansion to the airport so you can now jet in with having to take the ferry from St. Martin.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Florida Keys, Bahamas, Cozumel, Hawaii, California, Jamaica, and Lake Superior
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	74-80°F / 23-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	0
Water Visibility	40-60 Ft/ 12-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	start assent with no less then 700 psi.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	There was no real set up for underwater equipment on the boat but Doug (the owner and dive master) will arrange a plastic case or special area for your camera while on the boat. Then when we got in the water it was so choppy, the whole time I was there, that Doug would have the capitan hand him the camera with strobs and he would bring it to me so that I did not have to deal with getting to close to the boat during the choppy seas. When I would come up from the dive he would give me bottled water to rinse the camera housing and strobs and then when we would get to the dock he would take the camera and diving equipment and rinse it all off with fresh water.

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Dive Review of Special/La Sirena in Anguilla

Special/La Sirena, Jan, 2004,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Special/La Sirena in
Anguilla