El Fanadir North

Overview

Dive plan

The shape of the reef suggests a drift along the wall, and in good conditions it's even possible to dive the very north end. Next to the wall is a wide sloping shelf with coral blocks on a sandy bottom that ends at 20-25m at a drop-off plunging down to deep water. The main attraction is the wall with cracks and caves sheltering an immense range of marine life. The shallow parts are best and there is an outstanding coral block at 12m with a cleaning station that offers opportunity for a superb photograph. El Fanadir is a very popular site for night diving.

What to see

At the bottom, all along the wall you find blue spotted rays resting, and there is an endless trail of cleaning stations. Several species of moray eels like yellow-edged moray, yellow mouth moray and giant moray can be seen free swimming, and schooling fish like sweetlips and goatfish appear in abundance. The large quantity of pipefish makes the reef a good hunting ground for stonefish, scorpionfish and lionfish and a heaven for macro-loving photographers. Octopuses often frequent the reef but take a keen eye to spot due to their camouflage.

What you’ll see10

Big Blue Octopus

Octopus cyanea

Bluespotted Ribbontail Ray

Taeniura lymma

Common Lionfish

Pterois miles

Giant Moray

Gymnothorax javanicus

Goldsaddle Goatfish

Parupeneus cyclostomus

Grunts

Haemulidae

Moray eel

Muraenidae

Reef Stonefish

Synanceia verrucosa

Smallscale Scorpionfish

Scorpaenopsis oxycephalus

Yellowmouth Moray

Gymnothorax nudivomer