Stenapa Reef

Named for the St Eustatius National Parks Foundation that manages the marine park, Stenapa Reef is the signature coral pinnacle dive on the island's leeward coast. Three large coral heads rise from a sandy plateau at 30 metres to within 12 metres of the surface, each densely encrusted in star coral, brain coral, and enormous barrel sponges. The site reliably produces tornado formations of horse-eye jacks — sometimes numbering in the hundreds — that spiral around the pinnacles in mesmerising columns. Caribbean reef sharks and nurse sharks both frequent the site, and the large brain corals here are thought to be several hundred years old, representing some of the oldest living coral structures in the eastern Caribbean.