Turks & Caicos · Turks & Caicos Islands · Artificial reef
The Dome
A former game-show set now coated in sponges and tube worms
Area photo: SNORKELINGDIVES.COM · CC BY 2.0
The Dome, also called the Thunderdome, is a shallow artificial reef built around a structure that was once a prop for the French game show Le Tresor de Pago Pago, filmed in Turks and Caicos. Encrusting sponges now cover what remains of it, and small invertebrates make it a slow, close-looking dive.
Also known as Thunderdome.
Where it is and how deep
No published position for this site — the map shows Turks & Caicos and its other sites; operators know the mooring.
The dive
The dome sat on a flat sand bottom at 10.5 m (35 ft) with its top at 4.5 m (15 ft), and it has since collapsed, leaving several pieces scattered about the bottom. Encrusting sponges coat the metal, and a close look turns up clams, scallops and Christmas tree worms living on the frame.
Marine life and season
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Good | Good |
Season follows Turks & Caicos: January–April brings calm seas and the humpback whale migration through the Turks Island Passage; September–October is peak hurricane season.
Dive videos
Turks & Caicos Aggressor, Sun Dec 1, 2024 - Dive 4, The Dome · Roger Ducker on YouTube
Sources
- Turks and Caicos Islands — Dive The World
- Diving in the Turks and Caicos Islands — Divers Alert Network
More dive sites in Turks & Caicos
Wall
An undercut amphitheater in the wall, lipped with black coral
Wall
Near-continuous schools of grunts and snappers on the wall top
Wall
Black coral under an overhang at 21 to 27 m
Wall
Twin pinnacles beside a coral-carpeted slope off French Cay
Wall
A sand chute from 15 m to a coral ledge at 30 m
Wall
A sand gully out to a coral wall dropping to 30 m
A canyon from the wall top that opens onto a wide sand chute
Wall
Wall top at 15 m with a lobster-covered sand flat at 21 m
Similar dives elsewhere
A 7 m shore dive that photographers run day and night
The Silent Evolution, more than 400 concrete figures on the seabed
Orange cup coral and seahorses under a permit-only harbour pier
Turtles and tarpon along a wartime breakwater, entered from the shore