Blade is a series of small seamounts standing in clear open water about 40 minutes out from the resort, and usually the furthest site its day boats run to. The line of mounts is named for its resemblance to the blade of a serrated knife, and on both sides the ground drops away into open depth. The published range is 3 to 55 metres, and the structure carries giant sponges, sea fans and red whip corals.
Where it is and how deep
No published position for this site — the map shows Wakatobi and its other sites; operators know the mooring.
The dive
The run out takes about 40 minutes into blue water, which makes Blade the furthest site the resort's day boats regularly reach. What you drop onto is not a single pinnacle but a series of small seamounts standing in clear open water, the line of them named for its resemblance to the blade of a serrated knife, with the ridge between them running up and down along its length.
Left and right the ridge drops away into open depth, so the dive runs along the crest and the upper flanks rather than over the edge; the published range for the site is 3 to 55 metres. Giant sponges, sea fans and corals cover the structure, red whip corals stand off the exposed faces, and colourful crinoids perch on top of them.
Marine life and season
- Pristine corals
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good |
Season follows Wakatobi: Diveable all year; April–May and September–November are the peak months, and January and February the wettest.
Photos from Blade
q.phia · CC BY 2.0
q.phia · CC BY 2.0
Dive videos
Wakatobi Scuba Diving _ The Blade · Chris Landry on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is Blade?+
The published range is 3 to 55 m. The crest of the ridge is shallow, but the ground on either side falls well past recreational depth, so the dive is planned around the top rather than the flanks.
How far is Blade from the resort?+
About 40 minutes by boat, out into open blue water. It is usually the furthest site the resort's day boats regularly reach.
Sources
- Wakatobi's Dive Sites — Wakatobi Dive Resort
- Diving in Wakatobi — Divezone
Photo credits
- A large sea fan silhouetted against open blue water on a reef pinnacle by q.phia, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse
- Close-up of a coral grouper with blue spots and an orange body by q.phia, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse
- Bright yellow banana nudibranch with black markings on encrusted rock by q.phia, CC BY 2.0, via Openverse
More dive sites in Wakatobi
The Great Wall of Cornucopia, a sheer drop-off at the end of the slope
A drop-off 80 m off the beach, from under 2 m to past 40 m
Banded sea snakes, sometimes counted in double figures
Reef
A coral ridge known for large frogfish, then macro on the fringing reef
Similar dives elsewhere
An isolated seamount that pulls in barracuda and trevally schools
Vertical seamount wall dived at 25–30 m in swirling current
A submerged pinnacle where the sharks hold in the current
Soft-coral mound with sharks holding in the flow