After the two dives at Boss Reef this morning, our dive trip with the AIDA would have ended. But since we originally thought when booking the trip that we would go diving this morning at the famous underwater sculpture park of Jason de Caires Taylor, the AIDA crew had a great suggestion for both of us: in the afternoon we should make a trip with snorkelers and taster divers to the underwater sculpture park and they asked us if we just want to come along again. We didn’t have to think long. Sure, let’s 🙂
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The location of the sculpture park
The sculpture park is located in a protected marine park in Moliniere Bay, about three kilometers north of St. George’s. The English artist and diving instructor Jason de Caires Taylor created the world’s first underwater sculpture park on an area of more than 800 m2 in 2007. Other projects in many other countries of the world (Mexico, Bahamas, etc.) followed.
The Underwater Sculpture Park by Jason de Caires Taylor
The dive at the underwater sculpture park was originally also once in the excursion program of the AIDA, but was later taken out again, because some divers complained that one only goes to dive at the dive site to a maximum of 8.5 meters and that would not be a real dive. We have a slightly different approach: what we see is important to us. And we don’t care if it’s at a depth of 4 meters or at a depth of 25 meters. We can also dive an hour to 4 meters, if there are nice things to see there.
All 80 figures represent people of Caribbean origin who serve as artificial reefs for the underwater world. The statues are surrounded by plants and inhabited by marine life. Arriving at the dive site, we jumped into the water with our diving instructor Annika and explored the underwater world at the sculpture park. But before we reached the actual figures, we first encountered a moray eels, a firefish, two perfectly camouflaged stone fish and a large swarm of fish.
And then, step by step, the first figures appeared: stone slabs with faces, a table with a wine bottle and a fruit basket, a praying figure and a lying mermaid. And then we came to the great circle of people, whose fascination can hardly be escaped. The figures look somehow mystical with their bodies covered with corals, sponges and sea urchins, as if they want to capture one with their eyes. We could really have spent hours here if the air wasn’t all! A total of 6 other guests from the AIDA made this dive as a taster dive, which in our view due to the low depth and the non-existent current is really ideal to dive properly for the first time 🙂
The other guests of the excursion could see the sculptures while snorkelling. After another snorkeling stop in a nearby bay, all snorkelers and taster divers were provided by the local guides with enough rumpunsch and then we started the return trip to the ship, where we arrived again around 4 pm.
Our video of the underwater sculpture park in Grenada
Here is the video of our dive.
All travelogues from our AIDA Cruise (Caribbean Sea)
If you read the list of islands that AIDA is heading for on the route Caribbean Islands, you might think it was a dream for a moment: Dominican Republic, Aruba, Curaçao, Bonaire, Grenada, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Barbados, St. Lucia, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Antigua. To reach eleven islands in 14 days is already a house number. But that was also the reason for us to choose this route. A cruise is predestined to get to know the Caribbean with its thousands of dream islands in a relaxed way. Here you can find all travel reports of our 14-day Caribbean cruise with AIDAdiva.
Day 01 » Dominican Republic: Punta Cana – Short stopover before our cruiseDay 02 » Dominican Republic: AIDAdiva – Our 14-Day Cruise in the Caribbean Sea
Day 03 » Day at Sea
Day 04 » Aruba: ABC Islands – Diving at the Renaissance Plane Wreck
Day 04 » Aruba: Oranjestad – Tourist Attractions & Things to Do by your own
Day 05 » Curaçao: Curacao – Island Tour, Attractions & the best Photo spots
Day 05 » Curaçao: Ocean Encounters Curacao – Diving with Dolphins
Day 06 » Bonaire: ABC Islands – Diving in Bonaire National Marine Park
Day 06 » Bonaire: Kralendijk – Travel Guide & Things to Do
Day 07 » Day at Sea
Day 08 » Grenada: Diving on the wreck of the cargo ship Veronica L.
Day 08 » Grenada: Molinere Bay – Diving at the Underwater Sculpture Park
Day 08 » Grenada: Saint George’s – Tourist Attractions, Things to Do & Photo spots
Day 09 » St. Vincent: Kingstown & Hiking La Soufriére Volcano
Day 10 » Barbados: Wreck diving in Carlisle Bay Marine Park
Day 10 » Barbados: Snorkeling with turtles in Carlisle Bay
Day 11 » St. Lucia: Diving in the Caribbean with Scuba Steve’s Diving
Day 12 » Dominica: Dolphins, Whale-Watching & the capital Roseau
Day 13 » Guadeloupe: An island tour & the town of Pointe-a-Pietre
Day 14 » Antigua: St. John’s, Nelson’s Dockyard & Fort Berkeley
Day 15 » Day at Sea
Day 16 » Dominican Republic: Punta Cana – Relax one day on the Beach