Cocos (Keeling) Islands · Australia · Wall · Reef · Pelagic & blue water
Fan Wall
Sea fans and a cave at 40 m under a reef top anyone can dive
Area photo: photoboothrental.com · CC BY-SA 3.0
Fan Wall is an outer-reef wall on the Cocos (Keeling) atoll where the reef top shallower than 20 m carries most of the dive and the drop below it belongs to deep specialists. Black trevally work the blue off the edge, sharks and dogtooth tuna cruise below, and the sea fans that name the site sit at 40 m beside a cave.
Where it is and how deep
12.0868° S, 96.8738° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The reef top is the main dive and it is a shallow one. The listing puts plenty to see above 20 m and describes the site as popular with divers of all levels, so most groups spend the dive up there, working along the edge where the reef meets the drop. At that depth the profile stays well inside no-decompression limits without much managing.
Experienced divers can push out from the wall into open water, where black trevally school in the blue and you look down on sharks and dogtooth tuna cruising the deeper water. It is a short excursion off the reef rather than a blue-water dive in its own right, and the reef edge stays the reference you come back to when you have had your look.
Below that the wall runs to 40 m, where the fans the site is named for grow beside a cave. That section is flagged for expert divers only, and at 40 m it is a short, planned look rather than a leisurely one: take the depth you came for, then come back up onto the reef top to spend the rest of the dive and off-gas in the shallows.
Marine life and season
- Trevally & jacks
- Tuna
- Reef sharks
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Good |
Season follows Cocos (Keeling) Islands: Divable year-round; Apr–Jun and Oct–Nov are calmest, with the wet season from December to March bringing more wind.
Know before you go
- The fans and cave at 40 m sit at the edge of recreational depth and are flagged for expert divers only, so fix the deep segment and its duration before you leave the boat.
- The excursion into the blue takes you off the reef with open water below; go only if you are comfortable holding depth without a bottom reference and stay with the group.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Fan Wall?+
Most of the dive is on the reef top shallower than 20 m. The wall below drops to 40 m, where the fans and a cave are, and that deeper section is flagged for expert divers only.
What sharks and fish are seen at Fan Wall?+
Black trevally school in the blue off the wall, and divers who venture out from the reef look down on cruising sharks and dogtooth tuna in the deeper water below.
Sources
- Fan Wall — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide
- Cocos (Keeling) Islands destination listing — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide
More dive sites in Cocos (Keeling) Islands
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An undercut in the wall at 40 m, west of Ski Run
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