Barra Dive - Dive Sites

Manta Reef

Distance: Min Qualification: Maximum Depth Average Depth: Dive Time:

24km Advanced Diver 30m 21m A multilevel dive profile, that gives you a dive time of 45mins, if done correctly.

This is the world famous Manta Reef on everyone’s must dive list. Not only is the topography of the actual reef absolutely stunning but also close encounters with Manta rays are practically guaranteed at the three cleaning stations, making this a phenomenal dive site. 

We have a north and south drop depending on the current. Our North drop is onto Manta Pinnacles, the first cleaning station and a massive pinnacle of rock that rises from 26m on the sand to 18m on top. The wall is a steep drop of 8m with a swim thru and huge overhang, which hides a resident Potato Bass. Red Fang Trigger fish cover the reef along with huge schools of Yellow Snappers, Bigeyes, Fusiliers and Trumpet fish. This is also the place to see Spanish Dancers swimming midwater during the day, quite a rare sight. From here we swim along the top of the reef over colourful soft corals to the second cleaning station. We’ll stop and make ourselves negatively buoyant and let the Manta’s swim up to and over us (we think they like our bubbles tickling their bellies) and just take in this amazing sight, being careful not to touch them. Then depending on the dive time we either carry on to Manta Canyon, the third cleaning station, or start our ascent to the safety stop.  The Manta’s carry on being cleaned by Cleaner Wrasse, Goldies and Butterfly fish below us and sometimes we encounter curious Devil rays on the way up.

The Office

Distance: Min Qualification: Max Depth: Average Depth: Dive Time:

10km Advanced Diver 30m 23m Our slow ascent to our safety stop so we can watch for Devil Rays means we have a total dive time of 40 mins.

This dive site brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "this is my office" and our divemasters love it!

The topography is reminiscent of Manta Reef and Office even has its own Manta cleaning station, so encounters with Manta's are very common.

The actual site is a rock shelf that rises from the sea floor 70metres below. And our Northern drop puts us at the top of a 3m high, huge shaped wall. This wall has ledges and overhangs that provide homes to huge resident Honeycomb Moray, Turtle and Potato Bass. Pinnacles of rock also jut out from the wall where multitudes of Goldies, Butterfly fish and Moorish Idols congregate to add lots of moving colour! At the bottom of the, three huge rocks come up from the sand, and provide you divers with slim gullies and crevices to swim through while looking for Devil Firefish and sleeping White tip and Black tip reef sharks. We have also seen the rarely spotted Bowmouth Guitar and Leopard Sharks at this reef and you must also look out for two very inquisitive Old Woman Angelfish who come up very close to check you out then follow you on your dive playing in your bubble trail!

Giants Castle

Distance Min Qualification: Max Depth: Average Depth: Dive Time:

7km Advanced 35m 28m Bottom time is 20mins, and total dive time is 30mins due to our nice slow ascent

This reef earned its name, when every creature spotted here was twice the size than normal! So be ready for encounters with huge Potato Bass, Moray's and massive Manta's (bigger than Mother from Manta Reef!) at the cleaning stations.
The reef is a 7m high wall that runs for 300metres and because of the currents, can be an excellent and exciting drift dive.

The top of the wall is at 27m and has ledges, overhangs and little craters, which hide smaller geometric and white mouth morays. The top of the wall is decorated at various intervals by delicate green tree corals providing refuge to lots of sea goldies. Lobster, Surgeon and Scorpion fish are in abundance too. And look out for rarely noticed, large Frogfish. Ascents can be a bit special too so look out for game fish such as Barracuda and Kingfish and Devil rays on the way up.

General Info:The current at this site is predominantly north/south, but can reverse as well and quite quick, therefore divers need to be quite competent at negative entry and drift diving procedures.

Salon

Distance: Min Qualification: Max Depth: Average Depth: Dive Time

6km O/W 18m 16m 50mins

Salon is a small in-shore reef that is a favourite of photographers and divers alike because of all the special small creatures that are resident here, and the odd behaviour of the Trumpetfish. The actual reef is a 25m long ridge like pinnacle that juts from the sand and is surrounded by boulders at the sides. We slowly swim around looking under overhangs and into caves for geometric, honeycomb and black cheek morays, broad barred firefish, the five different coloured paperfish (white, brown, pink, black and yellow) and for the cleaner shrimp that give this site its name.

Once you've located the cleaner shrimp, place your hand flat on the sand and wait for the shrimp to come out and give you a bit of a manicure. Watch for the Trumpetfish though, that use divers as decoys to try and grab the shrimp, a phenomena that has only been seen at this reef. The Trumpetfish come so close to your mask that you can see their intricate gill and mouth movements. Don’t forget to look out onto the sand and around the boulders for octopus and bluespotted and round ribbontailed rays.

This is a wonderful dive site that reminds people of the beauty of the little things, and tempers visitors’ fixation on Manta’s if just for 50 minutes!

General info:
This dive is quite gentle as it is rarely affected by current and is great even in low visibility, because you get so up close and personal, however if the surge is too strong we will suggest another site

Mike's Cupboard

 

Distance: Min Qualification: Max Depth: Average Depth: Dive Time:

5km O/W 17m 15m 50 mins

This is a huge plinth of rock that comes up from the sand at 17m to the top at 14m. It would be quite flat if it wasn’t for the huge craters or potholes that have been gouged out of the rock, giving this dive some incredible topography to cover.

Our drop is onto the first pothole, which is about 5m wide. In here is a boulder that you can swim around while looking at the nine or so Flutemouth fish that live here. From this hole we swim to the next giant crater which is about 3m deep, in here you see all the usual tropical reef fish, from snappers to lizardfish, but also look out for the Crocodile fish, which are nicely camouflaged around the ledges. Look under overhangs for Devil Firefish and Box banded shrimp, and beneath one of the many swim thru ledges, lives a loggerhead turtle. Inside a small hole surrounded by leather coral, there are four black cheek morays that seem to have a special relationship with the juvenile goldies they protect and the colourful assortment of soft coral dotting the whole area makes you think that Mike has dropped his clothes all over his cupboard!

There is also always a huge shoal of fusiliers that hover over the reef, which get chased almost into a bait ball when the resident gang of Bluefin Kingfish come charging through like a band of thugs.

This is a fantastic dive that can be nice and slow but with action everywhere, and we’ve also seen dolphins on scuba here.

General info:
We can usually dive this reef in a current because we can hide in the potholes, however lots of surge can reduce visibility dramatically, and we may suggest another site in big swells.

Anchor Bay

Distance: Qualification: Max Depth: Average Depth: Dive Time:

1km DSD 12m 9m 50mins

This is one of our shallowest dive sites just off Barra beach. Perfect for training and for a nice gentle, slow and relaxing dive. The reef is large and quite flat with a few small pinnacles rising up here and there. Look out for the big ships anchor that gives this site its name. There are lots of assorted colours over the reef, staghorn and porous corals, plus anemones and sea urchins. These are home to many juvenile fish, look for beautiful Emperor Angelfish, baby Lionfish, Butterfly and Clown fish. There are also Crocodile, Stone and Scorpionfish around and a family of three Titan Triggerfish, also look out for round and bluespotted ribbontail rays and octopus. As a nice bonus this is one of the only in-shore reefs where you can see Manta's, usually frolicking on the surface. 
 
General info:This is a very pleasant site and we can dive here with all experience levels and in most conditions.

Buddies Reef

Distance: Qualification: Max Depth: Average Depth: Dive Time:

1km DSD 11m 8m 50mins

This is lovely shallow dive site just down from Anchor Bay, full of fantastic small marine creatures. The reef is flat and oval shaped, but cut through all over the place with channels and gullies, study these for they hide so much life. We’ve found Paperfish, a juvenile Rockmover wrasse and Emperor Angelfish. Also Periclimenes and Harlequin shrimp are found when you look closely.

We drop onto the southern edge of Buddies and start swimming slowly round and north. All over the reef are masses of Dusky Sweepers, they hover like a huge cloud and you can actually swim through them, they just part gently to let you pass.  There is also a specific crack where you find five Longfin Batfish, they can be quite inquisitive and come up close even nibbling on our buoy-line once!

Towards the end of the dive you come to a massive area covered in Daisy coral, a real underwater field of Daisies! It is a stunning sight with Chocolate dips, Domino’s, Goldies and Butterfly fish all over and in and between the coral. We love this dive and use it for training and for ocean night dives.

General info:
This is a very gentle site, suitable for all experience levels. We have placed a permanent block on the sand to attach a buoy, for DSD and Open Water training. We can also dive here when other sites are adversely affected by sea conditions because currents or surge do not usually affect it.

Barra Lagoon

Max Depth: Average Depth:

5m 3m

This is a very, very special place for us, and a completely different dive to any you experience out to sea. When we take divers here, they usually have a 90-minute dive and still don't want to come out! It is a paradise for macro photographers and good buoyancy skills are essential, because of this sites sensitivity.

We dive a small area of the lagoon at slack low tide, it is only 4m deep and at first just looks like an oyster shell bed, but if you stop and watch, you notice that there is movement everywhere. This place is like a nursery with juvenile broad barred and devil firefish, baby long horn cowfish, and emperor angelfish, paperfish, flounder and the rarely seen Pipefish! I could go on and on! One of the best things about this place though is the promise of seeing Sea Horses, they are quite big here and are usually found wrapped around a colourful sea fan. There have also been extremely rare Dugongs seen swimming along the channels, we also have pictures of creatures we've never seen before and have had trouble identifying, please help us! (include photos) Here we also conduct night dives when the tide is right and this opens up another world and more mystery, sea hares now cover the floor, the urchins are dazzlingly bright and the octopus more confident.

General info:

Because of the fragility of this dive environment and the sea horses (kicked up sand particles can cause them to go blind), we only take experienced divers or we ask that you complete a Peak Performance Buoyancy course with us before you dive this site. We can only dive here when the tide is right, and we also conduct night dives and Barra Lagoon distinctive specialities at this unique place.