ReefSeason BETAPrologue
Garden Eel at Antilla Wreck Aruba
A dive briefing · Aruba

SS Antilla

Dive site off Aruba. 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.

Arubawreck
At this sitegeotagged 974 m from the site coordinates Garden Eel at Antilla Wreck Aruba · Serge Melki from Indianapolis, USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Turtle at Antilla Wreck Aruba
Chapter I · Arrival

SS Antilla: dive site off Aruba.

~12.602° N~70.058° W · Wikidata
3,832open records · GBIF
90species recorded
At this sitegeotagged 974 m from the site coordinates Turtle at Antilla Wreck Aruba · Serge Melki from Indianapolis, USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
II

Entry

Turtle at Antilla Wreck Aruba

Entry points, depths, currents and any local rules will be added once we can verify them from official sources.

Approximate positionThese coordinates come from a crowd-sourced map or Wikidata item, not an official mooring list. Use them for orientation only.
To verifyDepth range, entry points and current notes. We publish them only with a citation. The coordinates mark the site in general, not a mooring or entry point.

At this sitegeotagged 974 m from the site coordinates Turtle at Antilla Wreck Aruba · Serge Melki from Indianapolis, USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Garden Eel at Antilla Wreck Aruba
Open media · At this sitegeotagged 974 m from the site coordinates Garden Eel at Antilla Wreck Aruba · Serge Melki from Indianapolis, USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The surface noise falls away.

Reds go first. The world turns blue-green.

Then SS Antilla rises to meet you.

Garden Eel at Antilla Wreck Aruba
IV

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.

Oct
October · 278 qualifying records
Life calendar · records per month for this site's most-recorded species (blank means not in that month's top list)
SpeciesJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
French angelfish
Trumpetfish
Blue Tang
Smooth trunkfish
French Grunt
Common Music Volute
Palometa
Goldspotted Eel
Barbados Miter
Stoplight Parrotfish
Banded butterflyfish
Bluehead Wrasse

Most-recorded species, all months

  1. French angelfish (6)
  2. Hieroglyphic Cone (5)
  3. Barbados Miter (5)
  4. Trumpetfish (4)
  5. Smooth trunkfish (4)
  6. Common Music Volute (4)
  7. Carrot Cone (4)
  8. Blue Tang (4)
  9. French Grunt (3)
  10. Goldspotted Eel (3)
  11. Squirrelfish (3)
  12. Palometa (3)
  13. Prunum marginatum (3)
  14. Atlantic gray cowrie (3)
  15. Queen Conch (2)
  16. Fourspot trivia (2)
  17. Flying gurnard (2)
  18. Bluehead Wrasse (2)
  19. Stoplight Parrotfish (2)
  20. Yellowtail Damselfish (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. 3,832 qualifying records. See them on GBIF. Common names: Wikidata (CC0) / GBIF. Species photos: Wikimedia Commons, credited with each species.

V

Forty-one summers of heat

Each stripe is one year since 1985, colored by its peak heat stress across NOAA's “Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire” region. These are NOAA Coral Reef Watch satellite figures for the whole region, not for this one site.

19852026
Reef health report · Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire

Heat stress, measured from orbit.

Degree Heating Weeks · 2026-10-131.3°C-weeks · NOAA status: Bleaching Warning

NOAA CRW virtual station “Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire”. 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.

Peak per year · dashed lines at 4, 8 and 16 °C-weeks
The past twelve months
VI

Conditions

Average sea temperature through the year. Check the live readings before you go.

Average sea surface temperature by month: NOAA CRW “Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire” station climatology (monthly means).

Departamento Meteorologico Aruba · forecasts →

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.

VII

Plan & prepare

  1. Read the official marine forecast the night before.Offshore, wind and sea state decide the day.
  2. Confirm access, hours and any fees with the site.[Placeholder: verified operator list to come]
  3. Study this month's species above.You'll recognise more when you know the names.
  4. Hands off, fins up, buoyancy dialled. Log what you see.Your sightings can become tomorrow's open data.

Credits

Coordinates
Wikidata Q576959 (CC0). Wikidata (CC0) and OpenStreetMap (ODbL) features. Approximate positions; two use the named bay or island nearby.
Species records
GBIF.org, CC0 & CC BY 4.0 records. By license: CC_BY_4_0: 3,790, CC0_1_0: 42
Dataset
EOD – eBird Observation Dataset · doi:10.15468/aomfnb (3,641 records) · GBIF
Dataset
iNaturalist Research-grade Observations · doi:10.15468/ab3s5x (111 records) · GBIF
Dataset
Natural History Museum Rotterdam - Specimens · doi:10.15468/kwqaay (54 records) · GBIF
Dataset
Birda - Global Observation Dataset · doi:10.15468/6kud7x (10 records) · GBIF
Dataset
Illinois Natural History Survey - Mollusk Collection · doi:10.15468/cu4scd (4 records) · GBIF
Dataset
ZOBODAT (Zoological Botanical Database) · doi:10.15468/ynjblx (3 records) · GBIF
Dataset
Field Museum of Natural History (Zoology) Fish Collection · doi:10.15468/alz7wu (3 records) · GBIF
Dataset
NMNH Extant Specimen Records (USNM, US) · doi:10.15468/hnhrg3 (2 records) · GBIF
Query
https://api.gbif.org/v1/occurrence/search?decimalLatitude=12.591944,12.611944&decimalLongitude=-70.067778,-70.047778&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 “Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire”
Hero photo
At this sitegeotagged 974 m from the site coordinates Garden Eel at Antilla Wreck Aruba · Serge Melki from Indianapolis, USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Arrival photo
At this sitegeotagged 974 m from the site coordinates Turtle at Antilla Wreck Aruba · Serge Melki from Indianapolis, USA · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Gallery
7 photos, credited under each image
Species photos
Wikimedia Commons, credited with each species. Full list: Data & sources