North Rock
Depth is the range from the top of the site to its usual maximum; "recommended cert" is the mainstream-agency level operators usually ask for, not a legal rule. Currents and visibility change daily — treat everything here as planning ranges.
The beacon at North Rock marks the outermost edge of Bermuda's encircling reef, and beneath it grows the ecosystem that made all those shipwrecks: the northernmost coral reefs in the Atlantic, improbably healthy for their latitude. Brain and star corals build heads the size of cottages, separated by white-sand canyons where snappers and grunts stack in the shade, and the open-ocean water arriving from the north keeps summer visibility extravagant. Hogfish and gray snapper grown bold under decades of protection approach closely, and every gully seems to end in another coral amphitheater.
The moment you come for: The Atlantic's northernmost corals, cottage-sized heads, extravagant visibility
Topography: Coral heads, canyons, and sand channels around a navigation beacon
Entry: A long lagoon crossing to the beacon at the reef's northern edge; run only in settled weather.
Know before you splash
Hazards: Exposed position; swell and breaking water make it a fair-weather site.
Conservation: Bermuda's reef preserves prohibit fishing and collecting around North Rock.
Who you'll meet
Great Barracuda
Green Sea Turtle
Lionfish
Porcupinefish
For photographers
Wide angle: ★★★★★ · Macro: ★★☆☆☆ — editors' 1–5 rating of what this site gives each style of shooting