Ocean Atlas

A vast underwater sculpture of a kneeling young Bahamian girl holding up the surface of the sea, lying in five metres of water off the western coast of New Providence. The work is by Jason deCaires Taylor, the British sculptor who pioneered the technique, and was installed in 2014 as a snorkelling-accessible artwork-cum-artificial-reef.

The site is reached by boat from Lyford Cay or by guided snorkel trip from Nassau marinas. Visibility is generally excellent; you do not need to dive to see it. Marine growth has accumulated over the years, partly obscuring the surface but adding to the strange effect of human stone being slowly reclaimed.

things to do sight
A story
At nearly 60 tonnes and over five metres tall, **Ocean Atlas** is the largest underwater sculpture in the world. The artist Jason deCaires Taylor designed it to act as an artificial reef — the pH-neutral cement encourages coral colonisation, and the piece is gradually being absorbed into the marine ecosystem it depicts.