The shipwrecks of Carlisle Bay

Where is Carlisle Bay in Barbados?

On the south-west coast, right next to Bridgetown. The cruise port sits at its north-western end.

The bay curves south from the port past Bridgetown to Needham's Point. Its beaches are the closest good swimming to the capital: Barbados.org lists Carlisle Bay Beach with lifeguards on duty, Brownes Beach along the bay and The Boatyard beach club at the north end. From the cruise terminal it is about 2.1 miles to Brownes Beach, roughly 40 minutes on foot, and the site suggests a taxi.

The water is sheltered. The bay is on the leeward side of the island, away from the north-east trade winds, which is why boats can anchor over the wrecks on most days.

How many shipwrecks are in Carlisle Bay?

Six, lying between about 12 and 55 ft deep, close enough together to visit several on one dive.

The list and depths below come from Barbados Blue, the dive centre that uses the park as its house reef, and match Barbados.org on the count and the depth range. Depth is the seabed at the wreck; some decks are much shallower.

Why were the Carlisle Bay wrecks sunk on purpose?

To build an artificial reef and a dive trail. Most of the six were scuttled or placed, not lost in storms.

The dates tell the story. The Eillon went down in 1996 after years tied up in the Careenage. The Bajan Queen was donated to the Coastal Zone Management Unit and sunk in 2002. The Cornwallis was moved into the park in 2003 because it lay in a busy boat lane. Even the oldest, the Berwyn, was scuttled by her own crew in 1919.

A sunken hull gives coral and sponges something hard to grow on in a bay of sand. Barbados Blue describes hard and soft coral on the Berwyn and sponge growth on the Ce-Trek. The Bajan Queen has a neat local twist: as the Pelican she worked on the construction of the harbour in the 1960s, and she now lies in the bay beside it.

Can you snorkel the Carlisle Bay shipwrecks?

Yes, the shallow ones. The tops of the Berwyn and the Bajan Queen are a few feet under, and the barge and the Cornwallis sit in about 12 to 15 ft.

The cruise-port beach day listing describes the snorkel site as shallow, about 12 ft at the wrecks, which fits the barge and the Cornwallis. On a clear day you look straight down onto decks and rails. The Eillon and the Ce-Trek, at 45 to 55 ft, are dive sites: from the surface they are shapes at best.

Visibility changes with the weather and the boat traffic, and the bay is busy with catamarans in the middle of the day. A trip with a crew handles the rest: the right mooring, the gear and a lookout.

Is Carlisle Bay a marine park?

It is Carlisle Bay Marine Park, a managed area with mooring buoys and demarcation lines. Its formal legal status as a protected area is still being settled.

Dive operators proposed protecting the bay in 1993, and the Coastal Zone Management Unit maintains its mooring buoys and boundary lines. A Government Information Service article said Carlisle Bay was set to be designated a marine protected area together with the Folkestone Park and Marine Reserve at Holetown, with regulations still to be drafted. It also states that placing fish pots in the marine park is illegal.

Folkestone, designated in 1981, is the long-standing marine reserve on the west coast. For a visitor the rules in Carlisle Bay come down to the usual ones: do not touch coral or wrecks, take nothing, and let the turtles be.

Which boat trips stop at the Carlisle Bay wrecks?

The glass-bottom boat and the cruise-port beach day go to Carlisle Bay by name. The five-hour catamaran and the private boat include shipwreck snorkelling.

Pick by how much of the day you want to give it:

The glass-bottom listing includes hotel or port pickup in its inclusions but asks you to make your own way in its meeting instructions. Confirm with the operator.

A calm ride over Carlisle Bay with the glass bottom showing the fish and the wreck below, then a snorkel and a slide off the boat. Snorkel gear, a life vest and juice are on the listing.

1.5 hours · Glass-bottom boat, snorkel stop

Book this Tour details

What marine life lives on the Carlisle Bay wrecks?

Reef fish, rays, octopus, moray eels and, if you are lucky, seahorses and frogfish. Turtles feed in the bay too.

Barbados Blue lists frogfish, seahorses, rays, barracuda, octopus, reef squid, mackerel and moray eels in the park, and porcupinefish around the barge. The beach day listing mentions tropical fish, rays, octopus, seahorses and turtles. Seahorses and frogfish are masters of disguise, and a guide pointing at them is the usual way a snorkeller finds one.

Is the Stavronikita wreck in Carlisle Bay?

No. The Stavronikita lies off the west coast, about 400 yards offshore, outside the marine park. It is a dive site in its own right.

The Stavronikita was a 365 ft Greek freighter that caught fire in 1976. She was bought by the island, cleaned and sunk deliberately on 21 November 1978, per Barbados Blue, which calls her the most popular wreck in Barbados waters. Visit Barbados mentions young green turtles around her. She is a scuba trip, not part of the Carlisle Bay snorkel stops.

If you want to see what lies deeper without diving, the Atlantis submarine trip goes down to about 150 ft over a reef off the west coast, and you stay dry. The listing says it is not suitable for cruise ship guests.

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