Five Finger Rock
Dive site off Dominica’s west coast. Here's what has been recorded at this site month by month, how the region’s reefs have weathered ocean heat, and how to prepare.
Five Finger Rock: dive site off Dominica’s west coast.
Entry
Entry points, depths, currents and any local rules will be added once we can verify them from official sources.
Near this sitegeotagged about 0.9 km from the site coordinates Atlantic long-spined sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) · My-Lan Le · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist
The surface noise falls away.
Reds go first. The world turns blue-green.
Then Five Finger Rock rises to meet you.
What lives here, by month
Pick a month. These are the species most often recorded within about a kilometre in that month, from open survey records.
| Species | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rusty Goby | ||||||||||||
| Spotted Soapfish | ||||||||||||
| Caribbean hermit crab | ||||||||||||
| Pallid goby | ||||||||||||
| Masked Goby | ||||||||||||
| Tusked Goby | ||||||||||||
| Ozius reticulatus | ||||||||||||
| Goldspot Goby | ||||||||||||
| Flamefish | ||||||||||||
| Miniature awlsnail | ||||||||||||
| Homola minima | ||||||||||||
| Bartail Goby |
Most-recorded species, all months
- Rusty Goby (7)
- Spotted Soapfish (6)
- Pallid goby (5)
- Masked Goby (5)
- Caribbean hermit crab (5)
- Tusked Goby (4)
- Ozius reticulatus (4)
- Goldspot Goby (3)
- Miniature awlsnail (3)
- Flamefish (3)
- Paraleptosphaeroma glynni (2)
- Homola minima (2)
- Bartail Goby (2)
- Yellowhead Wrasse (2)
- Bladefin bass (2)
- Dusky Blenny (2)
- Bicolor Damselfish (2)
- Antillean Clingfish (2)
- Hardhead Silverside (2)
- Bathynarius anomalus (2)
GBIF.org (2026-10-15), occurrence records within ~1 km, licensed CC0 or CC BY 4.0 only. Birds and land animals are excluded. Counts reflect survey effort, not abundance. 2,138 qualifying records. See them on GBIF. Common names: Wikidata (CC0) / GBIF. Species photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited with each species.
Forty-one summers of heat
Each stripe is one year since 1985, colored by its peak heat stress across NOAA's “Leeward Caribbean Islands” region. These are NOAA Coral Reef Watch satellite figures for the whole region, not for this one site.
Heat stress, measured from orbit.
NOAA CRW virtual station “Leeward Caribbean Islands”. NOAA's alert thresholds are 4 °C-weeks (Alert Level 1) and 8 °C-weeks (Alert Level 2). Station page · Method. Credit: NOAA Coral Reef Watch.
Conditions
Average sea temperature through the year. Check the live readings before you go.
Average sea surface temperature by month: NOAA CRW “Leeward Caribbean Islands” station climatology (monthly means).
Buoy readings are measurements; forecasts are models. Use them for planning only, and assess conditions on site. Depth and visibility data aren't listed until we can cite a source.
Plan & prepare
- Read the official marine forecast the night before.Offshore, wind and sea state decide the day.
- Confirm access, hours and any fees with the site.[Placeholder: verified operator list to come]
- Study this month's species above.You'll recognise more when you know the names.
- Hands off, fins up, buoyancy dialled. Log what you see.Your sightings can become tomorrow's open data.
Photographs from Five Finger Rock
Openly licensed photos, each checked for location against its title, description, category or geotag. Labels show how close each one is to the site.
Credits
- Coordinates
- OpenStreetMap node/4758373192 · source · ODbL. OpenStreetMap (ODbL) dive-site nodes on the northwest coast; the Soufrière–Scotts Head sites use Wikidata (CC0) positions of the nearby beach or headland, so they are approximate. Approximate position.
- Species records
- GBIF.org, CC0 & CC BY 4.0 records. By license: CC_BY_4_0: 1,987, CC0_1_0: 151
- Dataset
- EOD – eBird Observation Dataset · doi:10.15468/aomfnb (1,940 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- NMNH Extant Specimen Records (USNM, US) · doi:10.15468/hnhrg3 (70 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- iNaturalist Research-grade Observations · doi:10.15468/ab3s5x (57 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- NMNH Material Samples (USNM) · doi:10.15468/jb9tdf (29 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- Museum of Texas Tech University Mammalogy Collection · doi:10.15468/3z2std (21 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- KUBI Mammalogy Collection · doi:10.15468/a3woj7 (11 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- Field Museum of Natural History (Zoology) Invertebrate Collection · doi:10.15468/6q5vuc (8 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- EUKARYOME: the rRNA gene reference database for identification of eukaryotes · doi:10.15468/ehkbkt (2 records) · GBIF
- Query
- https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?decimalLatitude=15.58079,15.60079&decimalLongitude=-61.47994,-61.45994&license=CC0_1_0&license=CC_BY_4_0&taxonKey=44&taxonKey=206&taxonKey=229&taxonKey=136&taxonKey=225&occurrenceStatus=PRESENT&limit=0
- Heat stress & SST
- NOAA Coral Reef Watch, 5 km Regional Virtual Station “Leeward Caribbean Islands”
- Hero photo
- Near this sitegeotagged about 1.2 km from the site coordinates Gorgoniidae-Reproduction · Ebuxbaum · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Arrival photo
- Near this sitegeotagged about 0.9 km from the site coordinates Atlantic long-spined sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) · My-Lan Le · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist
- Gallery
- 7 photos, credited under each image
- Species photos
- Wikimedia Commons, credited with each species. Full list: Data & sources