Christmas Island’s narrow reef supports bountiful marine life, including 88 coral species and more than 600 species of fish. It’s an underwater wonderland for divers, with clear warm waters, coral reefs and spectacular wall dives. Soft corals, feather stars and gorgonian corals grow along vast walls which plunge into a seemingly bottomless abyss. The fish community is distinctive because the island is a meeting place for Indian and Pacific Ocean fish species. It’s one of the few locations in the world where you’ll see Indian and Pacific Ocean fish swimming side by side. Some of these species interbreed to produce hybrids. Christmas Island has more hybrid fish than anywhere else in the world, making it a marine hybridisation zone of international significance. In addition to the hundreds of species of tropical fish, dolphins inhabit the island’s waters and whale sharks regularly visit during the wet season. Whale sharks generally first appear when the red crabs are spawning at the start of the wet season — they converge to supplement their plankton diet with crab larvae. Locations like Flying Fish Cove, Ethel Beach, Dolly Beach, West White Beach and Winifred Beach offer scuba divers and snorkellers a rewarding marine experience. At Flying Fish Cove and Ethel Beach shore diving is possible depending on the time of the year. There is excellent fishing, with sailfish, tuna and wahoo among some of the fish to be caught. You’ll find boat ramps at Flying Fish Cove and Ethel Beach.

Home to the Mogollon Tribe, the Casa Malpais Ruins are also a national historic landmark. Acting as a shadowbox for the Mogollon, Sinagua, Anasazi, and Hohokam tribes, the Ruins possess a history spanning 50,000 years (when the 16-acre pueblo was constructed over lava flows). Casa Malpais served as home to the various tribes between 1100 and 1400 A.D. Guided tours are available for your exploration.

Extending between Dead Chest Island and Salt Island southeast of Road Town, Rhone Marine Park is an 800-acre treasure trove of marine species where corals, fish, turtles, lobsters and many other marine species drift around the famous wreck of the Royal Mail Steamer Rhone. Sunk by a hurricane in 1867, the steamship has over time become the most popular dive site in the British Virgin Islands.