Ari & Rasdhoo Atolls · Maldives · Pinnacle · Reef
Five Rocks
A pinnacle eroded into five separate pieces, 12 m to 40 m
Area photo: John Hepburn · CC BY 4.0
A South Ari pinnacle that erosion has split into five separate pieces over thousands of years, leaving the fragments lying at depths between 12 and 40 metres. The gaps and edges between them hold schools of sweetlips and whitetip reef sharks, with frogfish and stingrays for divers who slow down and look at the small stuff.
Where it is and how deep
3.5685° N, 72.9417° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The site is unusual in shape rather than size: a single pinnacle that thousands of years of erosion have split into five separate pieces. Those pieces lie at depths between 12 and 40 metres, so the dive is a route between them, deepest first, working shallower as it goes. How many of the five you link up on one dive depends on the profile you can afford, and there is no reason to try for all of them.
Each piece is worth treating as its own reef. Schools of sweetlips gather around the structures and whitetip reef sharks pass along the edges, while the rock itself is good hunting for macro: frogfish sit still where you would otherwise not look, and stingrays settle on the sand between the fragments. The shallowest pieces at around 12 metres are the natural place to end the dive.
Marine life and season
- Reef fish swarms
- Frogfish
- Stingrays
- Reef sharks
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Prime |
Season follows Ari & Rasdhoo Atolls: Dry NE monsoon (Dec-Apr) brings the calmest seas and clearest water; the SW monsoon (Jun-Oct) lowers visibility but pushes plankton onto the western sides, the best manta months.
Sources
- Five Rocks — Scubago
More dive sites in Ari & Rasdhoo Atolls
Pinnacle
Ocean-facing pinnacle at the mouth of Bathala channel
Pinnacle
South-side overhangs with gorgonian fans and black corals
Pinnacle
An estimated sixteen resident grey reef sharks
Wreck
Upright cargo wreck, deck at 21 m and sand at 28 m
Pinnacle
Blue sponges and black-coral overhangs on a small pinnacle
Pinnacle
Shallow top reef from 5 m, with anthias over the safety stop
Cave & cavern
Two swim-through caverns, at 18-20 m and 28-30 m
Wreck
40 m supply boat at 20 m, sheltered enough for night dives
Similar dives elsewhere
Two basalt organ pipes 25 m tall, one pierced by a cave
Turtles and whitetips resting under a quiet 10 m pinnacle
A 400 m ridge from an 8 m top down to about 35 m
Three soft-coral pinnacles that work as a cleaning station