Overview
Fanous West is a shallow reef wall running along flat sand, with a narrow channel leading through to a lagoon 9 m deep and a coral garden sloping away to 14 m. A handful of ergs and pinnacles stand off to the west. East and West share a mooring: the boat stays put between the two dives, and the names describe which way the group turns off the line.
Dive plan
As a drift, entry is on the north side with the reef on the left, following the contours of the wall to the pinnacles. From there the route runs out over the coral garden, and the channel leads back to the boat at safety stop depth. Starting at the mooring instead means going out through the channel first, working the coral garden, circling the ergs and returning along the wall on whatever gas is left.
What to see
From August to September titan triggerfish are on their nests and the site changes character. A nesting fish defends a cone of water that widens upward from the nest, so swimming up and away keeps a diver inside the defended space while swimming flat and out leaves it. Giant morays are resident in the coral garden and turtles feed over it. Around the pinnacles, silversides draw hunting jacks, and dolphins pass along the main reef wall. The photographs taken here are mostly of small things: Phyllidiella nudibranchs, burrowing urchins and devil scorpionfish.
Dive sites nearby
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