Telephone Pole

The boat anchors in 11 to 12 m (35 to 40 ft) on open sand flats with the wall behind it, running parallel to shore. A coral strip 12 to 30 m (40 to 100 ft) wide lines the edge. A large crevice cuts through the wall face from the sand at 11 m (35 ft) to 30 m (100 ft) at the bottom of the cut. A telephone pole once wedged over its sandy entrance gave the site its name; storm surge broke it in half and flushed it down the chute.

The route goes through the cut and out over the wall, then north along the wall, which stays sheer for about 60 m (200 ft) before breaking into coral heads and a sand slope. It returns along the sand flats past the boat, follows the wall south about 60 m (200 ft), and turns back along the reef edge. A large gorgonian marks the northern edge of the cut and has been photographed for magazine articles since 1974.

Big southern stingrays, friendly groupers, mutton snappers, turtles and ocean triggerfish are common here, and several schools of goatfish hover over the edge of the reef. Southward the wall stays straight all the way to the next site, Grouper Gully. Telephone Pole is usually the second dive of the morning trip.