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Wooden fishing boats pulled up on a wide sand beach below a green wooded headland under a hazy sky — Goa & the Grande Island

Goa & the Grande Island · India · Sand slope · Coral garden

Shelter Cove

Sandy training bay with a swim-through to a coral garden

Area photo: KenWalker kgw@lunar.ca · CC BY-SA 3.0

Shelter Cove is a sandy bay at Grande Island that dive centres use for open water courses. A small swim-through leads from the sand to a coral garden, and plate and whip corals grow as the bottom deepens, so a training dive here also takes in some reef.

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Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Shelter Cove: typical dive 3–12 m (10–40 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit3 m12 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

15.3519° N, 73.7847° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.

The dive

The dive starts on the sand of the bay at 3 m. A small swim-through leads on to the coral garden, and the plate and whip corals become more common as the bottom slopes down to its maximum of 12 m.

Marine life and season

The sources we used don't single out particular species here.

Month-by-month season rating for Shelter Cove
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
GoodGoodGoodGoodFairOff-seasonOff-seasonOff-seasonOff-seasonFairGoodGood

Season follows Goa & the Grande Island: Boats run mid-October to mid-May and stop for the monsoon from June; no month inside the season stands out.

Dive videos

diving north goa shelter cove · mark dean on YouTube

Sources

  1. Shelter Cove dive site — ScubaGo

More dive sites in Goa & the Grande Island

Wreck

Davy Jones Locker

Stern of a steel-hulled wreck for experienced divers

12–16 madvanced

Wreck

Double Boiler

Steamship wreck with boilers, pistons and propeller in place

15–19 mintermediate

Reef

Freddies Nook

Sheltered reef beside Suzy's Wreck for courses and intro dives

8–12 mbeginner

Reef

Grande Banks

A large field of plate coral between the two islands

5–13 mbeginner

Reef

Lobster Avenue

Coral reef wrapped around a rocky pinnacle

8–14 mbeginner

Wall

Secret Reef

A wall of stacked boulders ending in sand

6–12 mbeginner

Artificial reef

The Jetty

Ruined jetty that serves as a nursery for baby fish

4–10 mbeginner

Reef

Turbo Tunnel

Swim-through rock canyon lined with orange sponge

to 8 mbeginner

Similar dives elsewhere

Sand slope

Abu Sawatyr

El Quseir · Egypt

Sandy bay sloping to 40 m between coral gardens that reach 30 m

to 30 m · max 40 mintermediate

Sand slope

Eel Garden Joly

Menjangan & West Bali · Indonesia

Coral blocks scattered over sand between 10 m and 20 m

10–20 mbeginner

Sand slope

Sandy Slope

Menjangan & West Bali · Indonesia

Shallow coral top with a drop-off to 40 m on its north side

to 40 mintermediate

Coral garden

Big Coral

Kish Island · Iran

A shore entry from Simorgh Hotel beach onto the east-coast reefs

to 7 mbeginner