| Napolion en rode annamoon
Really three "gardens" near, middle and far. The most seaward of the gardens (far), is a
colourful fringing reef with a slope to 25m and dotted with small "ergs" At the top of
the drop off there is a few pinnacles frequently visited by pelagics. Glass fish caves are
in the reef wall at 12m. "Near" garden is just a few minutes from Naama Bay and is a
great spot for a night dive with a sandy ledge sloping away to 25m. Look out for
flashlight fish at night and napoleons, blue spotted stingrays and the odd grey reef
shark in daylight hours
Near Garden
27°54.401' N – 34° 20.833' E
This is the dive site closest to Naama Bay
and the most southerly of the ‘Gardens’. Unfortunately, because of the excessive
number of divers and the debris deposited on the corals during the construction of the
neighbouring hotel complexes, this locality has lost parts of its original allure. At the
southwest sector of the site there is a vast whitish area with a great number of dead
corals, often called the ‘dead area’. Yet Near Garden still remains today an interesting
dive site and, thanks to its location, a
onto a sandy plateau at about 15-20 meters which is bordered on the edge of the
drop-off by a series of hard coral heads, and then proceed along numerous gorgonians
up to a ridge with four pinnacles running in a northwest-southeast direction that
become deeper and deeper. After passing this underwater ridge, go northwards to
explore the numerous gullies in the reef by crossing a narrow passageway between
two coral formations inhabited by a colony of Cave sweepers |
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