February 2026

St. Eustatius (Statia) is a small volcanic island in the northern Lesser Antilles, Caribbean Netherlands, ringed by the St. Eustatius National Marine Park (about 17.48°N, 62.99°W).
Max. dive depth=25.1 m
Temperature=26.5°C
Coral cover (2026)=4.2±0.6% (mean±standard error)
For more information, see the report card here.

In February 2026 we surveyed four sites with SCUBAqua: STENAPA Reef, an artificial reef of concrete structures; the Chien Tong, an upright Taiwanese cargo wreck; Double Wreck, a seagrass meadow dotted with coral bommies; and The Ledge–Hangover, a drift along a ledge carpeted in sea fans and sponges. Sponges and soft corals dominate everywhere, and stony corals are small and scattered.

Interesting observations included an octopus, turtles, enormous barracuda and grouper, conch, a huge stingray on the sand, invasive lionfish, and dolphins during our surface interval. We saw no bleaching, but one mounding coral at The Ledge carried an active band of tissue loss.

STENAPA's own monitoring found average coral cover below 1% around the island in 2023 (1.5% inside the marine reserves), with algae covering more than half of the living bottom (Meesters et al. 2025, https://doi.org/10.18174/694539). Coral Reef Diagnostics' sites included two wrecks and an artificial reef, so they are not directly comparable, but our one natural reef dive, The Ledge, came in at just 2.9% live coral cover. Statia's waters have endured three severe heat-stress years in a row (2023–2025), peaking at 23°C-weeks in 2024 (NOAA Coral Reef Watch).