Twins

The two reef patches sit in bright sand at 6 to 18 m, close enough together that one dive covers both, with the sandy bottom around them at about 20 m. Groups usually drop on the shallower rock, work round it, then cross the open sand to the second patch. The white bottom keeps the light up and makes the reef easy to keep track of, which is a large part of why the site carries so many first dives.

Look into the rock rather than over it. Anemones with resident families of clownfish are spread across both patches, including the occasional saddleback clownfish, while white-eyed moray eels sit back in the crevices and grouper hold under the overhangs. Blue-spotted rays, wrasse and sergeant majors work the sand and the coral edges between the two reefs.

Because the reef bottoms out at 18 m and the current runs from none to light, Twins carries much of the island's training traffic: skill circuits on the sand between the patches, then a slow tour of the reef itself. The same shallow, bright conditions make it one of the easier sites on Koh Tao to shoot, with the anemones and their clownfish close enough to work at length.