Mariana Islands (Saipan, Rota, Guam)
The Grotto (Saipan)
- Max depth40 m (131 ft)
- CertificationOpen water / no overhead
- Water temperature≈ 27–29 °C (81–84 °F), varies with the seasonestimated, no reports yet
Diving and fills
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What it looks like
Grotto Saipan | Freediving Experience Grotto, Saipan Diving The Grotto Saipan Grotto Saipan Scuba Diving
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Videos and posts
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Grotto Saipan | Freediving Experience Grotto, Saipan Diving The Grotto Saipan Grotto Saipan Scuba Diving
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Other people's footage, not advice: how someone else dives here says nothing about what suits your team. Dive within your training.
The dive
From the rock you sink into a deep-blue bowl inside a collapsed limestone cave.
Profile and sections
From the rock you sink into a deep-blue bowl inside a collapsed limestone cave. Sunlight coming in through the underwater openings makes the water glow blue and shows the way to the sea; visibility is usually over 30 m, perhaps the best on Saipan. Along the rock walls there are fine swim-throughs, and usually one to three harmless whitetip reef sharks, barracuda and pyramid butterflyfish are about; sometimes you see a turtle. To the left (southwest) of the openings, at 12–15 m (40–50 ft), lies a second cavern, the Batcave: only with a local guide and if your air consumption is very low.
AFAR calls the Grotto one of the best cavern dives in the world.
Practical: the Grotto is usually for certified divers only, but in rare rough weather, when other sites can't be dived, the dive shops bring students and intro divers here too. Whatever you bring in, you take back out (MVA).
- Depth and profile
- Plan for up to ~40 m (Let's go Diving gives 30–40 m): the central cavern is ~22 m deep (Let's go Diving; ~21 m/70 ft according to AFAR and Wikipedia), the three wide openings to the sea lie between 0 and 18 m, and outside the cliff drops far below recreational depths (Wikivoyage).
- Configuration
- Cavern with daylight through three openings: recreational gear with a torch, which you carry down the stairs yourself (estimate).
Who can dive where
- At least Open water / no overhead
- Configurations: Backmount / twinset / Sidemount / CCR / Small cylinders / no-mount (speleo sumps)
- Goes down to 40 m (trimix or deco may be needed)
This is how the planner decides who in your team may dive this cave. Rules your own trip adds (organizer, a mail, the AI) show with your trip.
How to get there
Shore dive in the north of Saipan, at the end of Grotto Drive: from the car park down 112 concrete steps (Wikivoyage, AFAR; 109 according to Grottocenter) to a large rock in the lagoon, and a giant stride into ~5 m (15 ft) of water. You get out at the same rock, holding the buoy's rope. Carrying your gear up the stairs takes good fitness. Saipan's dive shops visit it often; outside the Grotto you need a guide.
Around The Grotto (Saipan)
FillsNo fill station known nearby
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