Bright maroon and yellow sea apples cling to this rock in a channel off Rinca Island; they have pale tentacles which they attach themselves to the rock with, and purple gorgonian fans sprout out of the gaps creating a truly strange scene. Fans grow to huge sizes here and along the base grow glowing spiral corals and green fern like corals. This much colour attracts not only divers, but also seahorses (pygmy), green turtles, stingrays, indigenous yellow sweetlips, basket stars, frogfish, tuna, groupers, eagle rays and snappers.

The top of the rock pokes out of the water and nearby pinnacles make the waves crash around the spot, so it’s easy to find, but you need a boat to get out so you may as well get a guide as well to introduce you to the marine community.

Topside the islands are brown and barren, but famous for the dragons. It’s a pretty exotic location.

Best time to dive here is between September and June. The water is cool and clear and visibility good, but the current is strong – it’s an open water dive – so you need to be quite a strong and skillful diver. Night dives are popular and still incredibly colourful. They should shoot those Canon colour adverts here trust me.

Written by  Nick Shaw.

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