Martinique from below

Discovering Martinique and life in the reefs

The Carribean Sea

Welcome to the Caribbean Sea: clear water all year round, from 26°C (Christmas) to 30°C (July-August).

Let’s discover Martinique on the south-west coast of the island, at Grande Anse d’Arlet, we have no coral reef. We dive directly into the Caribbean Sea, which offers us a wide variety of depths and features, all accessible from our anchorages along the coast.

The reefs of Martinique, especially those of Grande Anse, are very rich and colourful. An abundance of fauna roams our reefs made up of corals and especially sponges, animals that have the simplest way of life underwater.

The Molluscs

Molluscs are soft-bodied animals. They are well known to foodies and gourmets because they garnish our plates. Indeed, oysters, mussels, scallops and octopus are mollusks. In Martinique, you will find octopus in the traditional dish called “Chatrou”. A large part of the mollusks protect their body with a shell, like the queen conch that we sometimes observe while diving in Grande Anse. Molluscs are almost all mobile. Some are barely so like mother-of-pearl and others like the squid are among the fastest marine animals (they can move at a speed of 20 knots)!

The Worms

Annelid worms are made up of several ring-shaped segments (hence their name). There are also mobile worms like the fire worm. It is found on the cnidarians on which it feeds. Be careful, as its name suggests, it “burns” its attackers. We also have sedentary worms. They are fixed and live in tubes. We can especially distinguish their plumes which are used to filter water. At the slightest warning, they retract their plumes in their tubes, as is the case with the Spirograph or the Christmas Tree Spirobranchs, which can be found nestled in the brain corals of Grande Anse d’Arlet.

The Crustaceans

Crustaceans are animals with a rigid and articulated skeleton. Besides the most famous crustaceans such as shrimps, crabs, lobster or lobster, there are many planktonic species. In all, there could be around 50,000 species of crustaceans. En Martinique, le plus couru (dans les restaurants) des arthropodes est bien évidemment la langouste dont nous rencontrons souvent des mues en plongée. En effet, les crustacés possèdent une carapace qu’ils doivent renouveler quand ils grandissent : ils muent. En attendant que sa nouvelle carapace durcisse (environ 24heures), le crustacé est très vulnérable aux prédateurs.

The Sponges

Sponges inhabit all seas and we find them at all depths. They are the richness of the Caribbean Sea, which borders Grande Anse d’Arlet in the south of Martinique. Yellow, green, blue, pink, purple,… no doubt: these are the sponges that give it such pretty colors! The sponges are still attached. They filter water to remove oxygen and the microorganisms it contains. They have another particularity: spongine. It is about this very elastic material that we call sponge and which has been used since Antiquity for the toilet! The size of the sponges is very variable. Some are only a few centimeters long, while barrel sponges from Martinique can reach 2 meters. They grow 2cm per year: they are therefore a hundred years old!

The Cnidarians

They are stinging animals: cnidarian comes from the Greek knidê which means nettle! They are very common in the Caribbean Sea and especially in Grande Anse d´Arlet (corals are part of this branch). They are characterized by a mouth surrounded by tentacles. These tentacles contain stinging cells called cnidocysts. It is both a means of protection and a means of nourishing oneself. In Martinique, although most cnidarians are harmless to humans, some can still be particularly stinging, such as fire coral and some jellyfish. This branch is rich and diverse: some cnidarians are pelagic (jellyfish), some are benthic (corals), some live solitary (anemones) and others live in colonies (corals, sea fans).

The Echinoderms

The Vertebrates

In the branch of vertebrates we will meet reptiles (turtles), mammals (whales and dolphins) and fish of course. In Martinique, we meet whales from January to March. Turtles are present every day on the beach of Grande Anse d´Arlet. There are two main categories of fish: bony fish and cartilaginous fish (unlike the previous ones, their skeleton is not made of bones, so they are very flexible: these are sharks and rays). Fish only represent 5% of animal species … A very particular inhabitant of the reefs of Grande Anse: the Diodon Porc-Epic which is of course a bony fish. When frightened, he swallows a lot of water and inflates a pouch near his stomach. By doubling in size and bristling the thorns that cover it, it tries to scare away its predators. Some parts of his skeleton are even absent so as not to hamper dilation

Martinique from above

Martinique from above

Discovery of Martinique and life on the island

The Bananas

You never dive on an empty stomach! And why not a little banana before joining us at Alpha Plongée ? Native to Asia, the banana tree is a plant that is often thought of as a tree. It is a symbol of the tropical world and of Martinique. There are more than fifty species. Some bananas are “cooking bananas” (vegetables), others are “eating bananas” (desserts). Some bananas have very evocative names in terms of their sizes: “get dressed, young man”, “God forbid”…

The Carnival

The diver’s outfit is a funny one. You put on your wetsuit and you’re dressed up for your dive!

If, in addition to your dive, you feel like parading, go to Martinique in February for the Carnival. Discovering Martinique also means discovering the Carnival. It starts on the Sunday after Epiphany and ends on Ash Wednesday. Each fat day, the disguises will be different: Sunday is the day of the multicoloured parade, Monday is the day of the burlesque weddings (men dress up as women and women as men), Tuesday is the day of the devils (the colour of the disguises will therefore be red), and on Ash Wednesday, everyone will dress up in black and white to attend the funeral of Vaval (the king of the party) . Carnival is an important time of the year that every Martinican likes to celebrate.

Flower Island

During your dives, you will almost exclusively see animals. For plants, go to land.

Martinique is also called Madinina, “the island of flowers”, because it has a great variety of them (more than 1700 species listed, not counting all that man has introduced himself over time).

Flowers, plants, trees: the richness of the soil and the tropical climate favour a luxuriant and very diversified vegetation. In fact, in Martinique, it rains eight times more at the top of Mount Pelée than in Saint Anne. So diversity is the order of the day in Martinique (Photo of the Jardin de Balata)

A Volcanic Island

Throughout your dives, you will discover very diverse but always rugged reefs, surely due to great volcanic activity. Twelve volcanoes contributed to the formation of Martinique. Mount Pelée is the youngest of all. Mount Pelée does not owe its name to the scarcity of its vegetation since in the 19th century it was covered with a dense forest of palm trees and tree ferns. Its name comes from the Caribbean Indians, settled at the foot of the volcano, who spoke of the mountain of fire and who worshiped in homage to their Goddess of Fire: the Goddess Pelé. When this very touchy goddess was angry, she would strike the ground with her foot and cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

The Lobsters

As much sought after by divers as by gourmets, this spiny-shelled crustacean with long antennae will be offered to you in almost all the restaurants of Grande Anse d´Arlet. After a nice dive on our reefs, the lobster will delight your taste buds and its price in Martinique will make you want to take more. In Martinique, lobster has long been considered the poor man’s dish. We ate it for lack of something better when there was no fish. You bought fish and the fisherman offered you lobsters… that leaves you dreaming.

Discovering Martinique with Rhum Clément

The Rum

A dive at Alpha Plongée always ends with a “planteur”, to share your underwater adventures. And in the “planteur”, there is of course rum, the essential drink in Martinique.

There are two kinds of rum. Industrial rums are obtained by distilling the residue of sugar production: molasses, and agricultural rums, produced in the French West Indies, are made from the first juice of the cane: the vesou. Since 1996, Martinique’s agricultural rum has been awarded the Appellation Origine Contrôlée. The reputation of Martinique rums has only increased since then. The old rums from our island are among the best in the world! (Photo Rhum Clément)

The Turtles

You dream about them… they are here! During your stay in Martinique, you will not fail to meet this endangered species: the marine turtles.

You will be able to admire green turtles present all year round in Martinique’s waters. They can measure more than a metre in length and weigh more than 100 kg. You will certainly see them while snorkelling in front of our diving club. The bay of Grande Anse is in fact a huge sea grass bed, so it is the favourite place of the green turtles which feed mainly on sea grass beds.

You can also meet hawksbill turtles (measuring about one metre and weighing an average of 70 kg) while diving. Hawksbill turtles feed on sponges, crustaceans and molluscs living around the corals. Another turtle also visits us in Martinique. It measures on average 1.50 metres and weighs 500 kg. But it is above all a pelagic animal (living in deep waters) and can dive to more than 1000 metres. Enough to make all divers swoon! It is of course the leatherback turtle. The leatherback turtle comes to amaze us by laying eggs on the beach of Grande Anse from March to July.

Marine turtles are on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list. They are considered to be in critical danger of extinction. So let’s protect them! (our turtle story)

Discovering Martinique with the yole race

The Tour des Yoles

Our boat is a skiff: the traditional boat of the fishermen of Anses d´Arlet. Equipped with sail, she becomes a competition boat. In Martinique, in August, you will not fail to attend the tour of the skiffs. The sailing skiff is a boat of about ten meters without a keel with one or two rectangular sails. The crew was then forced to hang from the oars outside the boat to avoid capsizing the skiff. This event was created in 1985 and quickly gained considerable popularity. It is a great moment of celebration for the people of Martinique, just like the carnival.

Where to find us?

Our Alpha Plongée center is located on the beach of Grande Anse d’Arlet, about 200m to the right of the pontoon, looking out to sea. We are in the middle of the pedestrian street which runs along the seaside, between the restaurants “Bidjoul” and “Arcades”.

If you decide to join us by car, you can park in the large car park which overlooks the road opposite to the grocery store. It is indicated by a large blue sign. To find us, all you have to do is cross the road and slip between two rows of houses.

GPS :

Alpha Plongée Martinique

We look forward to seeing you.

138 rue Robert Deloy – Plage de Grande Anse
97217 LES ANSES D’ARLET.