Navidad Bank ( es, Banco de la Navidad) is a

submerged bank An ocean bank, sometimes referred to as a fishing bank or simply bank, is a part of the seabed that is shallow compared to its surrounding area, such as a shoal or the top of an underwater hill. Somewhat like continental slopes, ocean bank sl ...

in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

north of the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

and southeast of the Territory of

Turks & Caicos The Turks and Caicos Islands (abbreviated TCI; and ) are a British Overseas Territory consisting of the larger Caicos Islands and smaller Turks Islands, two groups of tropical islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and nor ...

. It is separated from

Silver Bank Silver Bank ( es, Banco de la Plata) is a submerged bank in the Atlantic Ocean north of the Dominican Republic and southeast of the territory of Turks and Caicos Islands. It covers an area of . It is separated from Mouchoir Bank in the west by ...

by the wide Navidad Bank Passage.

Geography

Navidad Bank is a shallow underwater area composed of coral and sand that almost reaches the ocean's surface, but is wholly submerged. It covers an area of . At low tide, a few small locations appear awash at the water's surface. General depths are less than . There is a least-known depth of located on the east side of the north end of the bank. It is not suitable for boating navigation of any kind, except by small craft, whose operators must be extremely careful. From the earliest colonial times, Navidad Bank has been the scene of multiple

shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

s. This area is considered part of the Dominican Republic. A Dominican presidential decree on July 5, 1996, included the area in the

Sanctuary for the Marine Mammals of the Dominican Republic A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a saf ...

. Navidad Bank has a wealth of

coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and sec ...

s and is a safe haven for marine mammals, including the

humpback whale The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...

. The humpback whales have long used the bank as a breeding and calving ground. As such, tourism focuses on tours to view the whales and other sea life. The Bank is visited by

scuba divers This is a list of underwater divers whose exploits have made them notable. Underwater divers are people who take part in underwater diving activities – Underwater diving is practiced as part of an occupation, or for recreation, where t ...

. Just to the northwest is the

( es, Banco de la Plata), also under the jurisdiction of the Dominican Republic. Navidad Bank,

, as well as

Mouchoir Bank Mouchoir Bank, in Spanish also called ''Banco de Pañuelo Blanco'', is a submerged bank that is part of the Turks and Caicos Islands and falls within its exclusive economic zone. The bank, located southeast of the Turks islands, is the geograp ...

further northwest, plus the Turks and Caicos Islands, are considered a geographic continuation of the

Lucayan Archipelago The Lucayan Archipelago (named for the original native Lucayan people), also known as the Bahama Archipelago, is an island group comprising the Commonwealth of The Bahamas and the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands. The a ...

References

External links

Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies websiteSailing Directions, Caribbean Sea Vol. I
Undersea banks of the Caribbean Sea Geography of the Dominican Republic {{DominicanRepublic-geo-stub