San Salvador · Bahamas · Wall
Great Cut
A keyhole tunnel through a split-off ridge, marked by hanging rope sponges
Area photo: James St. John · CC BY 2.0
Great Cut is a wall offshore of Clear Pond, twenty-five minutes by boat from the Riding Rock marina. A section of wall has split off as a ridge about 15 m (50 ft) out, and a keyhole tunnel through it, its top at 29 m (95 ft), opens on the outer wall.
Where it is and how deep
No published position for this site — the map shows San Salvador and its other sites; operators know the mooring.
The dive
The boat moors in 12 m (40 ft) over hard pan and coral, and the wall behind it drops from 12 to 34 m (40 to 110 ft) into a huge crack in the reef. A section of the wall has split off as a ridge about 15 m (50 ft) away, topping out at 18 m (60 ft). In its middle a keyhole-shaped tunnel, its top at 29 m (95 ft), passes through to the outer wall over sand sloping from 34 to 46 m (110 to 150 ft).
Divers cross the wall top and drop into the cut, where hanging rope sponges at 26 m (85 ft) mark the tunnel entrance and blue water shows through it. After passing through, the route bears right around the ridge at 37 to 30 m (120 to 100 ft) and back to the tunnel, then climbs to the ridge top and follows it south about 60 m (200 ft) to the wall edge, returning north along the 12 m (40 ft) edge to the boat.
Schools of grunts sit on top of the ridge and huge elephant ear sponges grow at its north end. Going north the ridge ends in a vertical cliff, and to the south it rejoins the wall in a rolling slope from 12 to 24 m (40 to 80 ft). Big coral outcrops on the face of the shallow wall hang over the cut. Great Cut is usually the first dive of the day.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good |
Season follows San Salvador: Hammerheads are seen in the cooler winter months; June to November is the Bahamas hurricane season, when rain storms are expected.
Dive videos
Doubledowndiving - San Salvador, The Bahamas - Great Cut dive site · Wes Livingston on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is the Great Cut tunnel?+
The keyhole tunnel's top is at 29 m (95 ft), and its sandy bottom slopes from 34 to 46 m (110 to 150 ft); the route around the ridge runs at 37 to 30 m (120 to 100 ft).
Sources
- Great Cut | Riding Rock Resort & Marina — Riding Rock Resort & Marina
More dive sites in San Salvador
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Overhanging cliff hung with black coral trees and deep-water gorgonians
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Three crevices and a lone coral head shaped like a claw
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A crevice over 60 m (200 ft) long, branching into caves and tunnels
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A chimney-like vertical cave dropping into a crevice out over the wall
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A straight cliff to 30 m (100 ft) two minutes from the marina
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Hammerheads occasionally swim parallel to the wall above the deep ledge
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Sharks seen off the deep wall or over the 24 m (80 ft) plateau
Approachable schools of grunts and squirrelfish on a shallow photo reef
Similar dives elsewhere
An undercut amphitheater in the wall, lipped with black coral
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A sloping wall dived between 18 m and 34 m
Near-continuous schools of grunts and snappers on the wall top
Black coral under an overhang at 21 to 27 m