The coastline of Gonâve Island offers some of Haiti's most undisturbed marine environment, primarily because so few people visit. The reefs around the island's western and southern shores have seen minimal diving pressure and retain good coral cover in places — a stark contrast to overfished and damaged reefs closer to Port-au-Prince.
There is no dive operation on the island itself, so anyone serious about diving needs to arrange equipment and a guide from Port-au-Prince or Montrouis before coming. The beaches along the western coast are accessible only by moto-taxi followed by walking, and you may well have them entirely to yourself. The sea here is warm year-round and usually calm in the morning before afternoon winds pick up. This is genuinely remote Haiti, with no facilities, no shade structures, and no other tourists — exactly what some people are looking for and exactly what others should be warned about before they get on the boat.