Visiting mariners have for years commented on the vibrancy of the blue waters surrounding Barbados. The most easterly island in the Caribbean archipelago is unlike many of the other islands in the Caribbean, which are volcanic. Barbados itself is an ancient coral reef with over 85% of its surface comprised of limestone. This phenomenon explains why Barbados’ topography below and above the surface is relatively moderate, and why shallow reefs can be found far offshore. Barbados’ limestone base, white coralline sand, clear oceanic waters, and its location at N13° 10 W59° 32, affect the wavelength of the light reflected. This gives us something unique, a colour, a feeling… Barbados Blue!

Our dive shop is perfectly located at the Hilton Hotel on Needhams’s Point, which gives us easy access to both the South and West coasts of Barbados. We are also a 5-minute boat ride away from the Carlisle Bay Marine Park with its great snorkeling and shipwreck scuba diving. Hilton Beach is the densest Hawksbill Turtle nesting beach in the Eastern Caribbean, so you are almost guaranteed to see one while snorkeling, kayaking or diving with us. If it is one thing that separates Barbados and Barbados Blue from other dive destinations it is the fact that we dive and snorkel with more turtles than anyone else.

Dive Barbados Blue established another dive site along the South coast named Turtle Point (what else?), and here we get an average of ten turtles on each dive, including the very rare Ridley sea turtle spotted recently! One of our favourite sites, this is a photographer’s dream dive. Due to our close ties with the Barbados Sea Turtle Project and the University of the West Indies, we guarantee that our tours are ecologically sustainable and that we will in no way harm these magnificent creatures. Barbados Blue’s Divemasters and Instructors regularly report all nesting activities and rescue stranded or disoriented hatchlings.

Barbados Blue is proud to be a 100% AWARE partner. To honour this commitment, we donate on behalf of every student we certify to dive to the PADI AWARE Foundation for Ocean Protection. We love what we do and acknowledge that without our amazing underwater world, our jobs would be much different. What we have in our oceans is a gold mine and we love to share this experience with our guests. In our opinion, it is only fair to give back and the AWARE Foundation offers a great opportunity for us and our students to do so weekly! Our ongoing contributions support many programmes including:

• Marine Debris Prevention: we’re collecting data and removing devastating debris worldwide while tackling policy efforts to address long-term solutions.
• Shark Protection: securing protection for the world’s most vulnerable shark species. Together, we’re strengthening shark finning bans and closing policy loopholes in countries that matter most.