Le Petit Tombant ou Mausolée

The dive opens in a basin of charcoal-coloured volcanic sand bordered by a small drop-off, and at 14 m you come up onto the top of a coral plateau in clear water, which you work across before reaching the edge of the first drop-off. This is the part of the site that carries the life — the directory claims 80% of the species found around Réunion — and for most of the group it is where the dive is spent.

The plateau descends slowly towards 40 m. At its foot a sandy pass 30 m wide separates it from a second drop-off, the presqu'île, which is the extension for pairs diving autonomously; the topography is simple enough that finding your way back is not the problem. Coral fish are varied, big parrotfish work the plateau, soles and cowries sit on the sand, and a guitarfish is sometimes found lying on the volcanic grit.