Manta Reef

The reef is a tabular slab of rock standing 3-4 m off the sand, its surface relatively flat, and the plan is a drift from north to south along it. Currents and surge rarely affect the site, so the water usually lets you pick your own pace rather than dictating it. At the northern end the reef builds into Manta Pinnacles, a formation rising from 26 m to 18 m with an 8 m wall, a swim-through and an overhang to work around.

The cleaning stations are the reason to be here, and the dive is largely spent settled near one, low and still, watching for mantas coming in over the reef; both reef and giant mantas are recorded on the site. A resident loggerhead and a resident green turtle use the same reef, potato bass hold over the harder structure, and parrotfish, scorpionfish, clownfish and moray eels work the fish-filled sections between the pinnacles.

Southwards the reef ends in a wall that descends to 30 m, cut with cracks and ledges worth a slow pass; soft corals, starfish, sea urchins and nudibranchs cover the rock, and 20 m visibility is not uncommon. The drift finishes over the southern end of the reef, and with the average depth around 21 m the profile is short enough that nitrox is worth carrying.