Bangka Island · Indonesia · Coral garden · Reef
Coral Eye House Reef
Coral garden from 1 m to sand at 13 m, straight off the beach
Area photo: Fabio Achilli · CC BY 2.0
The house reef in front of Coral Eye is a coral garden that runs from 1 m down to a sandy bottom at 13 m, and the site is described as suitable for all levels of divers. Entry is from the shore rather than off a boat, which makes it the dive that needs no schedule: a spare tank in the afternoon, or a shallow, unhurried hour with no depth to manage.
Where it is and how deep
1.7487° N, 125.1328° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The reef starts in a metre of water and slopes out to sand at 13 m, so the dive is as long as the gas lasts rather than as long as the tables allow. Most people swim out over the shallow coral, drop down the garden to the sand edge, then work back and forth along the boundary between the two before spending the rest of the dive in the shallows on the way home.
That shallow profile is what the site is for. Nothing about it has to be planned around a table, so the limit is gas rather than depth, and the reef is close enough to reach on foot that it takes the spare tank at the end of a day of boat diving. Levelling off along the sand line at 13 m and turning early leaves plenty of air for the long, unhurried shallow section on the way back, which is where most of the dive time actually goes.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Bangka Island: Mar–Nov is the settled season with the calmest channels; the north-west monsoon from December to February brings wind and swell.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Coral Eye house reef?+
The coral garden begins at about 1 m and reaches the sandy bottom at 13 m, which keeps the whole dive well within recreational limits.
Is the house reef suitable for beginners?+
Yes. The site is described as suitable for all levels of divers, and with a 13 m maximum, a coral garden that starts in a metre of water and entry from the shore, there is no depth or crossing to manage.
Sources
- Coral Eye House Reef dive site — Scubago
More dive sites in Bangka Island
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Reef
Coral blocks on sand, with schooling fish over a slow slope
Coral garden
Healthy coral garden from 3 m down to 18 m off the village
Coral garden
Three coral blocks on a garden falling from 3 m to sand at 30 m
Muck & macro
Muck diving on a sand slope, without crossing to Lembeh
Wall
Coral slope from 3 m to a wall that drops to 30 m
Muck & macro
A sandy incline from 3 m to 25 m, dived for the small stuff
Pinnacle
A canyon-cut plateau at 15 m before the drop to 40 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Shallow mixed coral reef, best between 3 and 14 m
Reported as the world's largest aggregation of anemones
Hawksbill turtles and clownfish colonies on a shore-entry house reef
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Hawksbill and green turtles grazing a hard coral garden