Cocos (Keeling) Islands · Australia · Wall
Royal Dalton
Look up at the old plate corals from 22 m down the wall
Area photo: photoboothrental.com · CC BY-SA 3.0
A wall dive named for its old plate corals, worked by slipping down the face to 22 m and looking back up at the coral overhead. Some of the large plates have died and new growth is coming in over them, which makes this as much a site for watching a reef rebuild itself as one for the depth or the fish.
Where it is and how deep
12.0850° S, 96.8761° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
Drop in on the wall and slip down the face to 22 m, then turn and look up into the corals above you. That is the whole trick of this site: the large plate corals are what it is dived for, and from 22 m down the wall they sit between you and the surface rather than being looked down on from the reef top. There is no route to follow here beyond the face itself.
The plates here are old, and some of them are no longer alive. Work along the wall looking for the new growth coming in over the dead colonies, which is the more interesting half of the site once you know to look for it. As bottom time runs out, get in close for the last of it, then leave the wall and drift back to the boat mid-water rather than following the reef home.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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.
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Royal Dalton dive?+
The usual profile runs down the wall to 22 m, with the plate corals above you from there, and finishes with a mid-water return to the boat.
Sources
- Royal Dalton - Cocos (Keeling) Islands — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide
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