Pipín

The dive starts at the mooring on the reef top at about 15 m, over coral ground with huge schools of grunts patrolling between the heads. Swim out across this rather than lingering, because the shallow reef is the approach rather than the destination, and watch for turtles, which swim through sedately, and for gray angelfish working the coral.

At the drop-off at 25 m the site changes. Schools of jacks and even bigger schools of tarpon, numbering 10 to 50, cut jagged lines across the edge, and eagle rays fly along the walls below them. A lone patrolling hammerhead sometimes makes a cursory inspection of the group before disappearing back into the blue. Black grouper, Nassau grouper and gray angelfish hold on the reef itself.

Work back up onto the reef top with gas in hand and take the safety stop off the edge. Groups of silky sharks, up to a dozen of them, often arrive to look the divers over while they are hanging at the stop, which makes the last few minutes as good as anything deeper on the dive. Stay horizontal, keep your hands in and let them make the passes.