Les Arcadins

Les Arcadins is a string of three small uninhabited islands 45 kilometres north of Port-au-Prince that sit within Haiti's oldest officially gazetted marine reserve, established in 1983, protecting a system of patch reefs and coral gardens that contain some of the most spectacular brain coral colonies in the Caribbean basin. The massive mound-shaped Diploria colonies here reach two metres in diameter and are estimated to be several centuries old, a testament to the reserve's relative protection from anchor damage and bleaching events. Parrotfish, surgeonfish, and butterflyfish move through the branching coral in coordinated feeding groups, while the sandy inter-reef channels shelter resting nurse sharks and spotted eagle rays.