Abrolhos Archipelago · Brazil · Pinnacle · Reef · Cave & cavern
Chapeirão Faca Cega
A hollow coral chamber 20 m across, bottoming out at 25 m
Area photo: Mia Morete · CC BY-SA 3.0
Faca Cega — Blind Knife — is a set of coral pinnacles counted among the main diving points of the Abrolhos Archipelago. What sets it apart is the hollow interior: a room inside the formation that reaches 25 metres and runs close to 20 metres across, with several passages and burrows opening off it. Depth is the only figure published for the site.
Also known as Faca Cega, Blind Knife.
Where it is and how deep
18.0357° S, 38.4106° WPublished position for this site.
The dive
The dive is built around the inside of the pinnacle cluster rather than a swim along its outside. The room within the formation reaches 25 metres and measures almost 20 metres in diameter, and several passages and burrows lead off it, so the route is a question of which openings the guide takes rather than a fixed circuit. Plan the profile on that 25 metre floor: no shallower figure is published for the site.
Outside the chamber, what you are swimming around is a chapeirão — the mushroom-capped coral tower the Abrolhos reefs are built from, spreading wider at the top than at its base, so the structure is as often above you as below. The published record for this site stops at the room, though: no current, visibility, water temperature or species list has been put out specifically for Faca Cega, so the numbers on your slate come from the park's general conditions and from the crew's briefing on the day.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Prime |
Season follows Abrolhos Archipelago: Aug–Oct pairs peak humpback whale season with fair diving; visibility is clearest and warmest Dec–Mar, while Apr–Jul river runoff lowers it to around 10 m.
Know before you go
- The room and its passages are an overhead environment: stay with the guide, keep an exit in sight, and mind fin position around live coral in the narrower burrows.
Dive videos
Mergulho 170 Chapeirão Faca Cega Abrolhos · Vladmir Kronemberger Alves on YouTube
Deep Cavern Dive at Chapeirão Faca Cega - Secret Abrolhos Adventure at my 100th Dive! · Let's Go, Miscow! on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is Chapeirão Faca Cega?+
The room inside the pinnacle reaches 25 metres and is nearly 20 metres in diameter. No shallower figure is published for the site, so where the profile starts depends on where the guide begins the dive.
What is there to see at Faca Cega?+
The formation itself: a cluster of coral pinnacles with a hollow interior room and several passages and burrows leading off it. No marine life has been documented specifically for this site, so what swims past on the day follows the wider park.
Sources
- Abrolhos / Chapeirão Faca Cega — Scubago (SSI MyDiveGuide)
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