Overview
Gota Abu Makadi is a cluster of coral pinnacles standing on flat sand, each one separated from the next by open bottom. That separation is what shapes the dive: every pinnacle works as a closed system with its own anemones, its own cleaners and its own resident fish, so a second circuit of the same structure turns up animals missed on the first. Gota is the local word for exactly this, a coral head standing apart from the reef.
Dive plan
The usual route starts at the largest pinnacle and works outward through the smaller ones. Anemones on the flanks hold clownfish, morays sit in the crevices, and bannerfish school off the tops. The sand between the structures is the other half of the dive rather than the crossing between its parts: bluespotted stingrays rest on it and flatfish lie buried with only their eyes clear. Depths stay modest enough to make this a comfortable second dive of the day, and the light coming off the sand is even, which is what makes the site photographic.
What to see
Scorpionfish, moray eels, nudibranchs and octopus are the standing residents. Green turtles come through to feed, and flatfish on the sand change pattern to match whatever they have settled on.
Dive sites nearby
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