Although it has a well-developed tourism industry, Antigua is not particularly known for its diving environment, mainly because the diving cannot compete with the impressive coral and fringing reefs elsewhere in the Caribbean.  Here's the map.

The good news is that Antigua presents a wide array of water-based activities, plus long beautiful white sand beaches, more historical sites on land than most other islands and a dry climate, so there's something to suit everyone, divers or not.

• Cades Reef - one of Antigua's best-known offshore sites, and is now partly contained in a designated underwater park.
• The Andes - a three-masted merchant ship that sank in 1905 and now rests in less than thirty feet of water in Deep Bay.
• Pillars of Hercules - one of Antigua's best dive sites. Fabulous coral and plenty of small marine life.

• To dive off Barbuda, it is best to make arrangements with a dive shop on Antigua to have the necessary equipment taken over by air or boat.
• Antigua has real coral reefs on the north, south and east sides. These reefs are relatively shallow and have suffered hurricane damage.
• Dive depths generally range from 25 to 80 feet and can reach 180 feet.
• Distances from shore to site are between 5 and 40 minutes.