Vis averages 60 to 100 feet on good days and the diversity of fish here can rival that of Los Roques. Although usually calm, the area can be awash in surge and current. Thanks to the close location, a two-tank trip has you back on land in time for lunch and afternoon sightseeing. The most popular day-trip diving on Margarita takes place in this collection of eight rocky islands that in colonial days were thick with oyster beds. Eight islands with two sides each equals 16 potential dive sites, each with a different combination of encrusted rock, hard-coral reef, and generous fields of gorgonians.
Some shops make an event of the trip, with beach barbecues between dives.
Cubagua was the site of the earliest European settlement in Venezuela, the fishing city of Nueva Cadiz. The town was eventually wiped out by a tidal wave and abandoned in the 1550s. Today the arid island is home to only a few itinerant fishing camps. Thanks to the influence of a nearby ocean trench, the water of the bay stays in the upper 60s to low 70s year-round. The wrecks are marked by the tip of a ferryboat protruding from the water.