Christmas Island · Australia · Reef · Wall · Night
Flying Fish Cove
Walk-in shore diving with a sheer wall and a garden-eel flat
Area photo: David Stanley from Nanaimo, Canada · CC BY 2.0
The settlement's beach is also the island's easiest dive: walk in and the coral shelf ends in a drop. The operator runs the cove as its shore-diving hub, from the shore to 20 metres, and splits it into Admin Wall, a sheer face with trevally, fusiliers and reef sharks, and the Sandpatch, a garden-eel flat used for first dives and night dives.
Also known as The Settlement.
Where it is and how deep
10.4261° S, 105.6728° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
Entry is off the beach at the settlement, so this is the dive that needs no boat. The walk-in is short and so is the swim: the coral shelf ends quickly and the bottom goes over the edge, with the operator's range for the cove running from the shore down to 20 metres and the grading beginner to intermediate. It is a shore-diving hub rather than one fixed route, and which part of it you dive is decided at the water's edge.
One part of the cove is Admin Wall, a sheer drop with trevally and fusiliers stacked along it, reef sharks working the edge, and thriving macro life on the face in the operator's description. The other is the Sandpatch, an open flat with garden eels standing out of it: shallow, undemanding, and the ground the operator points new divers and night divers at.
Background
The cove takes its name from HMS Flying Fish, whose 1887 visit followed a failed attempt by HMS Amethyst in 1857, and settlers from the Cocos (Keeling) Islands established the settlement here in 1888. In March 1942 about 850 men of the Japanese 21st and 24th Special Base Forces and 102nd Construction Unit came ashore at Flying Fish Cove and occupied the island.
Marine life and season
- Trevally & jacks
- Reef sharks
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Prime | Prime | Prime |
Season follows Christmas Island: October to December brings the clearest water; August and September bring upwellings and lower visibility; from November to April swell can roughen the north side.
Dive videos
Diving at Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island - March 2012 · ParksAustralia on YouTube
The Drop-off - Flying Fish Cove, Christmas Island, 20 March, 2021 · Charlie Romeo Golf on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Can you shore dive at Flying Fish Cove?+
Yes. The cove is the settlement's beach and the operator runs it as its easy-access shore diving hub: you walk in, cross the coral shelf and the bottom drops away. The site is listed from the shore to 20 metres.
Is Flying Fish Cove good for a night dive?+
The Sandpatch, the sand flat inside the cove with its garden eels, is what the operator recommends for new divers and for night dives. It is shallow, sheltered and entered straight from the beach.
Sources
- Dive Sites Christmas Island — Extra Divers Australia
- Flying Fish Cove — Wikipedia
- Christmas Island — Wikipedia
In The Logbook
- The best shore dives in the worldShore diving · 8 min read
More dive sites in Christmas Island
Drift
A shallow drift with swirling current and elusive hammerheads
Wreck
A 1942 torpedo casualty, broken in two and dived from 5 m
Shallow coral heads from 3 m with a dense garden-eel colony
A bottomless vertical cliff worked under a 30 m cap
Cave & cavern
A cavern that surfaces in a chamber open to the sky
Reef
Anemones and clownfish in 15 m, with whale sharks passing through
Similar dives elsewhere
Hard coral gardens from 6 m to a 20 m drop-off
A shore entry in the marine reserve, 4 m to a small drop-off
Ladder off the dock, then a long critter hunt to a coral-topped mini wall
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Coral drop-offs at 21 m under a ceiling of fusiliers