La Perle

La Perle is a beginner dive in the Saint-Pierre dive zone on Martinique's historically resonant northwestern coast, in the waters of the bay that was transformed by the catastrophic 1902 eruption of Mount Pelée into the 'Pompeii of the Sea' — a dive destination where history and marine biology combine in ways found almost nowhere else on Earth. This beginner-accessible site introduces divers to the extraordinary Saint-Pierre dive environment at depths and conditions appropriate for those early in their diving experience. Saint-Pierre was once Martinique's most important city — the 'Paris of the Caribbean,' as it was known — until Mount Pelée erupted on the 8th of May 1902 and destroyed the city and its harbour in minutes. The eighteen ships anchored in the bay were sunk by the eruption's thermal effects, and today their remains, along with the underwater archaeological traces of the destroyed city, have been designated a historical monument accessible to divers. The Saint-Pierre dive zone is as much a museum as a reef. La Perle — The Pearl — introduces the beginner diver to this extraordinary context at accessible depths and in the generally calm conditions of the Saint-Pierre bay. The dive may include observation of the volcanic and biological features of the bay's seafloor, the coral and sponge communities that have colonised the historic debris, and the diverse Caribbean reef fish that inhabit this protected and historically significant marine environment. The fish life in Saint-Pierre's waters is excellent — the bay's historical protection from intensive fishing and the diversity of habitat provided by the combination of natural reef and historic wrecks creates a marine community of genuine richness. Green sea turtles are regular in the bay, large grouper occupy the structural features of the seafloor, and the schooling fish that circulate above the reef provide the open-water element that completes a thoroughly rewarding dive. An introduction to one of the Caribbean's most layered and historically significant dive destinations.