The Submarine Reef

Canyons, galleries and chimneys, between zero and twenty metres

The Submarine Reef sits within a narrow band, from the surface to twenty metres, but what it holds is surprisingly varied: canyons, galleries, chimneys, caves and passages.

A relief full of holes

It is neither a wall nor a plateau, it is a maze. You pass under an arch, rise up a chimney, come out through a gallery. The dive becomes a route rather than a stroll.

That architecture explains the density of life: every hole is a shelter, and a reef full of holes houses far more animals than a smooth surface of the same size.

Light in the passages

That is the real show here. In a canyon or a chimney, light comes through an opening and cuts beams into the particle-laden water.

The effect is strongest in the middle of the day, when the sun is high and drops straight into the openings. This is not a site you dive the same way in the morning and at noon.

What you will meet

• Lobsters, in the galleries.
• Turtles, in numbers.
• Tight shoals in the passages.
• All the fixed life on the canyon walls.

What level you need here