Réunion · France · Pinnacle · Cave & cavern · Reef
Demhotel
Two basalt organ pipes 25 m tall, one pierced by a cave
Area photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0
Demhotel is a geology dive south of Saint-Pierre, built around two basalt organ-pipe columns standing 25 m tall, one of them pierced by a cave. Large ridges separated by a plateau lead out to them. The site runs from 6 m down to 40 m, so how much of it you see depends on the profile the guide sets rather than the terrain.
Where it is and how deep
21.3722° S, 55.5569° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The ground is large basalt ridges separated by a plateau, and it climbs and falls enough that the site can be dived anywhere between 6 and 40 m. Following the ridges out is the natural route, and the plateau between them gives somewhere to work at a fixed depth — which is what a level 1 minimum on ground that reaches 40 m calls for.
The set pieces are two basalt organ pipes standing 25 m tall, imposing enough that the directory rates them worth the trip on their own, and one of the two is pierced by a cave you can pass into. Around them the coral fish are varied, black jacks come through and leopard rays pass over the ground; the directory also picks out big sponges, anemones and the corals growing on the rock.
Marine life and season
- Stingrays
- Trevally & jacks
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Fair |
Season follows Réunion: May–Oct is the dry season with the calmest water and humpbacks Jul–Oct; Jan–Mar is cyclone season.
Sources
- Demhotel — Carte de La Réunion
More dive sites in Réunion
Wreck
A 1999 scuttling on her port side, holds full of soldierfish
Cave & cavern
A ten-metre arch cresting at 20 m, its feet on the bottom at 42 m
A coral flat to 20 m, then a wall from 20 down to 40 m
Reef
A shore entry in the marine reserve, 4 m to a small drop-off
Cave & cavern
A collapsed reef cavern with easy galleries at 3 to 17 m
Wall
Black sand to scree at 40 m, and a shy grouper at 50 m
A stepped wall dropping in two stages from 40 m to 70 m
Wreck
Depth figures for this scuttled lobster boat disagree by 34 metres
Similar dives elsewhere
A pinnacle eroded into five separate pieces, 12 m to 40 m
A 400 m ridge from an 8 m top down to about 35 m
Three soft-coral pinnacles that work as a cleaning station
An estimated sixteen resident grey reef sharks