Pulau Weh · Indonesia · Coral garden · Reef
Rubiah Sea Garden
Branching hard corals from 10 m to sand past 30 m
Photo: prilfish from Vienna, Austria · CC BY 2.0
A relaxed site off Rubiah island, known for the colourful shallow coral gardens that give it its name. From 10 metres a rocky slope of big branching hard corals runs down past 30 metres to sandy bottom, so it works as an easy shallow dive or a slope dive, with morays, nudibranchs and flatworms doing most of the entertaining.
Also known as Rubiah Seagarden.
Where it is and how deep
5.8815° N, 95.2579° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
Drop in over the shallow reef top: this is the relaxed end of the island's diving, with no current story to plan around and enough colour in the first few metres to hold a whole dive. From 10 metres down you follow the rocky slope with its big branching hard corals, which keeps a reference right beside you the whole way down.
The slope runs on past 30 metres before hitting sandy bottom, and that is the turn-around for most profiles. Working back up is where the site pays: honeycomb morays are almost a certainty, sometimes out free-swimming at full length, and it is worth checking whether the one you found is actually a black-spotted or black-blotched moray, since both look similar. Colourful nudibranchs and flatworms fill the gaps.
At 13 metres there are a couple of red fluorescent bubble anemones, the kind of thing you only spot once someone has pointed them out. Finish shallow in the coral gardens the site is famous for, where both the depth and the pace drop away and there is still enough colour and macro life to fill the last stretch of the dive.
Marine life and season
- Nudibranchs
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime |
Season follows Pulau Weh: Oct–Apr is the settled season with the clearest water; June to September brings wind and swell that close the exposed pinnacles.
Photos from Rubiah Sea Garden
prilfish from Vienna, Austria · CC BY 2.0
prilfish from Vienna, Austria · CC BY 2.0
Questions divers ask
How deep is Rubiah Sea Garden?+
The rocky slope starts at about 10 metres and runs down past 30 metres before it reaches sandy bottom. Most of what the site is known for — the shallow coral gardens, the morays, the nudibranchs and flatworms — sits in the shallower half, so the profile is yours to choose.
Sources
- Diving on Pulau Weh — Lumba Lumba Diving Centre
- Weh Island — Wikipedia
Photo credits
- Giant clam with iridescent blue-green mantle set into the reef at Weh Island by prilfish from Vienna, Austria, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Blue ribbon eel with its head raised out of a sandy burrow at Weh Island by prilfish from Vienna, Austria, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Boxer crab holding a pair of anemones and carrying eggs on the reef by prilfish from Vienna, Austria, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
More dive sites in Pulau Weh
Pinnacle
A hundred morays in the rock, sharks on the 24 m plateau
Drift
Fast drift over a rocky slope with devil rays and reef sharks
Wreck
Wheelhouse at 37 m, bow on the bottom past 55 m
Wreck
A small iron tugboat on the harbour bottom at 20 m
Sand slope
Hot water bubbling up through the sand at 5 to 15 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Morning light on a shallow coral garden off Ko Bangu
Longest reef in the Similans, over 300 coral species
Coral garden
Coral Garden
Tenggol Island · Malaysia
Coral-covered slopes to about 18 m, one of the island's most popular sites
Swim-throughs behind walls of glassfish, and no current