Réunion · France · Reef · Pinnacle
La Galère
Raw lava flows skinned in white and blue soft coral
Area photo: Unknown author · CC BY-SA 3.0
La Galère is a geology dive south of Saint-Pierre over old lava flows left in the raw, their surfaces taken over by white and blue soft coral. White sand lies twenty metres below the flows, and offshore a set of rock pinnacles 20 m tall marks the end of the site. The quoted profile is 20 to 40 m and level 1 divers are taken here.
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
You swim above old lava flows that have never been reworked, still in their raw shapes, with only the surface taken over — by soft corals in white and blue that skin the rock and make the geology easier to read rather than hiding it. Twenty metres below the flows is white sand, so there is a clear floor under the whole route and the site reads as basalt canyons you fly over rather than a wall you follow.
Level 1 divers are taken over the flows, which sets the pace: the dive is quoted as 20 to 40 m and stays within sight of the rock. Out towards open water a group of rock pinnacles 20 m tall marks where the site ends. Reef fish are varied over the coral, crustaceans work the rock, turtles come through and pelagics are on the list; divers past level 1 are taken into the fissures and around the pinnacles, which the directory describes as full of life.
Marine life and season
- Sea turtles
- Macro critters
| 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
- La galère — 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
Pinnacle
Two basalt organ pipes 25 m tall, one pierced by a cave
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
Similar dives elsewhere
A granite reef whose tallest boulder breaks the surface at low tide
180 m of reef with a pinnacle at each end, 10 m to 30 m
Shallow coral heads from 3 m with a dense garden-eel colony
A small rock outcrop on sand, 16 m at its deepest