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Blue Hole Diving at one of the Best Dive Sites in the Bahamas

What it’s like to scuba dive a blue hole…

Bahamas diving liveaboard at the Lost Blue Hole between Nassau, Bahamas and the Exumas
Aqua Cat Cruises moored at the Lost Blue Hole, Bahamas

So what is a blue hole? It is a sinkhole that is filled with water and open at the top. These can be found on land as well as in the ocean. The most famous in the world is probably the Belize Blue Hole near Lighthouse Reef. However, The Bahamas is home to hundreds of equally amazing ones like Dean’s Blue Hole, Blue Hole National Park on Andros, and the Lost Blue Hole located off Nassau. They are usually tidal influenced meaning the flow of water can change with the tides.  Being tidal, they can suck (downward flow) and can blow (upward flow). It’s important to be aware of the direction during these dives. Fortunately, the Lost Blue Hole outside Nassau is not tidal and does not have a down flow or up flow allowing divers to safely and leisurely enjoy the flora and fauna. 

The Lost Blue Hole

The Lost Blue Hole offers a variety of diving. It is in an area of grass beds in 30’ of water.  It is surrounded by a band of sand with many small critters like jawfish, gobies & blennies. If you are interested in macro-life there is no shortage. Seahorse and nudibranchs can be found when combing through the grass beds, a magnifying glass can come in handy to spot some of these critters. Stingrays also bury themselves in the sand.  There are several coral heads in this sand area that attract large schools of snapper, grunts and goatfish.  These fish feed in the grass beds near the hole and come here during the day for protection.  The ledges near the top frequently have nurse sharks and loggerhead turtles.   Swimming into the hole has an eerie feeling as the hole widens out below the rim so it looks like a black void.  It is over 200’ to the bottom of the hole.   The wall of the hole has many ledges where you can find many small fish, crabs and shrimp.  At about 80’ is a cave that goes into the all about 30’ where you can usually find lobster and schools of blackbar soldierfish.

Sharks at the Blue Hole

From May to early August a large school of up to a 100 blacknose sharks congregate in the hole.   Blacknose sharks are a small shark that are only 3’ long.  They come here to breed.  It is hard to see them from the top of the hole in 40’ but as you drop down into the hole you can look up and see them circling above you. It’s a really spectacular sight – check out the video below or visit our YouTube page for more content.

We know that at the Lost Blue Hole there will be no shortage of exciting encounters.   This dive is normally done on the last day of the trip before heading into Nassau and a great way to finish off an amazing week of diving in the Bahamas.

Jake’s Hole, Eleuthera Diving

We also have another blue hole we dive in Eleuthera called Jake’s Hole.   This hole is tidal so we don’t enter the blue hole but you can swim above it.   The highlight of this dive though is the shallow reef around the hole that has some of the healthiest corals you will encounter in the Caribbean.  This hole is in only 20’ of water and when the water is pushing out of the hole you can see it at bubbling at the surface.  There is a huge variety of small & large fish here also. 

Both of these holes are amongst our most popular dives.

Want to scuba dive a blue hole? 

Click here for information on our All Star Bahamas dive liveaboards.

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