Painted Walls
Dive site in the British Virgin Islands. 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.
Painted Walls: dive site in the British Virgin Islands.
Entry
Shore and boat entries vary by site. We list only rules we can cite from official sources; entry points, depths and currents will be added once we can verify them.
- RMS Rhone Marine Park: anchoring and fishing are strictly prohibited; use the mooring buoys provided with a National Parks Trust mooring permit. BVI National Parks Trust · RMS Rhone Marine Park
- National Parks Trust dive moorings are for day use only (overnight use is illegal), and a National Parks Mooring Permit is required by law to use them. BVI National Parks Trust · Marine Conservation
At this sitegeotagged 358 m from the site coordinates Whitespotted filefish (Cantherhines macrocerus) · Pauline Walsh Jacobson · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist
The surface noise falls away.
Reds go first. The world turns blue-green.
Then Painted Walls 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flamingo tongue snail | ||||||||||||
| Caribbean spiny lobster | ||||||||||||
| Redband Parrotfish | ||||||||||||
| Saddled Blenny | ||||||||||||
| Great Star Coral | ||||||||||||
| Graysby | ||||||||||||
| Stoplight Parrotfish | ||||||||||||
| Whitespotted Filefish | ||||||||||||
| Blue Tang | ||||||||||||
| Rock Beauty | ||||||||||||
| Symmetrical brain coral | ||||||||||||
| Deltoid rocksnail |
Most-recorded species, all months
- Flamingo tongue snail (5)
- Caribbean spiny lobster (3)
- Redband Parrotfish (3)
- Great Star Coral (2)
- Graysby (2)
- Saddled Blenny (2)
- Stoplight Parrotfish (2)
- Whitespotted Filefish (2)
- Blue Tang (2)
- Rock Beauty (2)
- Symmetrical brain coral (2)
- Deltoid rocksnail (2)
- Queen Conch (1)
- Anilocra chromis (1)
- Orangeclaw hermit (1)
- Ringed anemone (1)
- Massive Starlet Coral (1)
- Orange cup coral (1)
- Encrusting gorgonian (1)
- Trumpetfish (1)
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. 87 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 “Virgin 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 “Virgin 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 “Virgin 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.
- Check the cited local rules above and pay any park fee before you dive.[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 Painted Walls
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
- Wikidata Q5245126 (CC0) · position of Dead Chest Island; the site is off its south point. Wikidata (CC0) items for the RMS Rhone and HMS Astraea wrecks and for named islands, rocks and points; most mark the nearby island or point, so treat them as approximate.
- Species records
- GBIF.org, CC0 & CC BY 4.0 records. By license: CC_BY_4_0: 84, CC0_1_0: 3
- Dataset
- iNaturalist Research-grade Observations · doi:10.15468/ab3s5x (73 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- EOD – eBird Observation Dataset · doi:10.15468/aomfnb (9 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- Field Museum of Natural History (Zoology) Fish Collection · doi:10.15468/alz7wu (3 records) · GBIF
- Dataset
- University of Michigan Museum of Zoology, Division of Reptiles & Amphibians · doi:10.15468/g3bard (2 records) · GBIF
- Query
- https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?decimalLatitude=18.355832999999997,18.375833&decimalLongitude=-64.573333,-64.553333&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 “Virgin Islands”
- Hero photo
- At this sitegeotagged 346 m from the site coordinates Rock beauty (Holacanthus tricolor) · Pauline Walsh Jacobson · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist
- Arrival photo
- At this sitegeotagged 358 m from the site coordinates Whitespotted filefish (Cantherhines macrocerus) · Pauline Walsh Jacobson · CC BY 4.0 · iNaturalist
- Gallery
- 4 photos, credited under each image
- Species photos
- Wikimedia Commons, credited with each species. Full list: Data & sources