New Caledonia · France · Drift · Reef
Récif intérieur de Dumbéa
The inside start of the Dumbéa pass drift, 6 m to 14 m on sand
Area photo: Jean Rerêve · CC BY-SA 4.0
The lagoon-side start of the Dumbéa pass drift, dived when the current is running out. It is shallow ground — a sandy bottom between 6 m and 14 m with the reef on the inside of the run — and the listing notes plenty of fish over it, so what limits the dive is the tide and the pick-up rather than depth or no-decompression time.
Where it is and how deep
22.3636° S, 166.2632° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
This is where the Dumbéa pass drift begins when the current is outgoing: the group enters on the lagoon side and the water carries them out through the pass. The bottom is sand between 6 m and 14 m with the reef on the inside of the run, so the sensible line is to stay over the sand and keep the reef on one shoulder as a reference while the current does the work.
Because it is shallow, no-stop time is not the limiting factor — the tide is. The site works on an outgoing current, so it is dived to a schedule set by the water rather than by the day, and the group has to stay together for a pick-up that happens wherever the drift ends. There are plenty of fish over the sand and along the reef edge, and the shallow depth leaves gas to spend on them.
Marine life and season
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good |
Season follows New Caledonia: Sep–Dec is warmest and clearest before the wet season; Jan–Mar is cyclone season, and winter water drops to about 21°C.
Know before you go
- The dive runs on an outgoing current, and that same current takes you out of the pass — deploy a surface marker and surface as a group for the pick-up.
Sources
- récif intérieur de Dumbéa — SSI/Scubago
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