Rivière Claire

Three rocky massifs, and water that is not equally clear every day

Town : Le Prêcheur

Rivière Claire is number 13 in the register of Martinique sites, off Le Prêcheur, very close to La Coucoune, for which we have a page.

Sources place it between eight and forty metres depending on the spot: three rocky massifs diving towards the open sea, a wall and a small coral plateau. Sponges and corals are reported, along with boxfish, sergeant majors, seahorses, turtles, lobsters and barracuda. It is reachable from the shore, and listed as open to every level, beginners included.

The name says something true

A river running into the sea brings fresh water and particles with it. Depending on whether it rained in the preceding days, visibility is not the same. That is true here, and true all along the coast.

The four things that cloud the water

• Rain and run-off, which load the water with soil and debris. It is the most frequent cause, and the most predictable: yesterday’s weather tells you.
• Swell, which lifts bottom sand back into suspension. A rough sea makes milky water in the shallows, without a drop of rain.
• Plankton. Green, dense water is not dirty water: it is rich water, and it feeds everything else. You see less far and you see more life.
• Sargassum on the surface, which cuts the light before it even enters the water.

What that changes about the dive

Less clear water is not a failed dive, it is a different dive. When you cannot see far, you look close, and close is exactly where the seahorses and everything small happen to be.

Divers who come back disappointed by loaded water are nearly always the ones who kept looking for the horizon.

What level you need here