GORGONE ONE

Site Name: Gorgone One
Distance from Club: 4 km
Depth range: 6 - 16m
Type: Photo Dive
Level: Advanced Open Water Diver and above
Notes:
Shallow reef so good light for photography. Even though it is only a shallow dive, an intermediate level is recommended as the current is sometimes quite strong and there is only one entrance/exit.
Entrance is across a shallow lagoon through a small zigzag in the fringing reef. Its best to go through here one at a time as it does get a little narrow in places.
A you exit on to the reef you have a colourful area of soft corals and fire corals sloping down to a giant cabbage coral.
Swim around the cabbage coral to a tall pinnacle at approx. 9m. This is covered in many Anthias, the stronger the current the more fish there will be.
If you have a keen eye you may be able to spot the devil scorpion fish that is a frequent visitor to the pinnacle.
From this pinnacle you have two choices for the dive, usually depends upon the strength of the current and your certification level.
Option 1: swim directly west and down to the large gorgonian fan coral for which the site gets its name, stay at around 16m and follow the gulley to the north, reef slope on your right. When you reach the table corals turn up the slope to a shallow area to find the third pinnacle and work your way back to the second.
Option 2: Stay at 8m and swim to the north to find the second pinnacle and continue north to the third, swim back around the boulder corals to the fringing reef.
The second pinnacle is larger than the first and is surrounded by glass fish. In a small cave on the east facing side there are hundreds of lionfish. If the dive is later in the day the lionfish can be seen hunting the glass fish.
Be careful not to get to close to this pinnacle as a family of stonefish live here, as many as 6 have been spotted at one time.
The third pinnacle is home to the larger fish as there is normally a stronger current, emperors, snappers and large groupers are usually found here.