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Diving at several of the beautiful caves of French Reef
| Name Dive Site: | French Reef |
| Depth: | 13-49ft (4-15m) |
| Accessibility: | Boat, Live-aboard |
| Inserted/Added by: | lars, © Author: Lars Hemel |
| Rated: | Rated 5.0, 1 votes |
| Specifications: |    |
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French Reef is famous for its dozens of tunnels, swim throughs, limestone cliffs and open underwater coral caves, located just northeast of Molasses Reef and marked by 17 F-lettered mooring buoys. It is not only famous for its caves as there are some spectacular drift dives to be done at its more intact and deeper seaward ledge. There is a small triangular Sanctuary Preservation Area (SPA) which makes fishing and lobstering forbidden in this area.
We will give a short description of several of the more famous caves in this area, but remember that there are many more all spectacular and new in its own way. Four feet high Christmas Tree Cave just 50 feet from F3 is a twenty feet long tunnel, named after the hundreds of Christmas tree worms that inhabit it. Near buoy F1 we have the Hourglass Cave named after an in name similar formed column that splits the cave in two almost equal sections. White Sand Bottom Cave situated in the center of the reef is the largest cave and if you want to dive at a collection of smaller caves you should visit Five Caves at the southern end of French Reef.
Creatures such as moray eels, cooper sweepers and grunt love the darkness of the crevices and gullies and have made it their home. Bring a light if you want to see its macroscopic beauty. Goliath grouper are often found near its entrances and exits while jacks, yellowtail and many reef species are found almost everywhere. Coral such as staghorn coral and golden brown Elkhorn coral has taken over the shallower parts while boulder, brain and star coral is more common in the deeper areas. Some of the larger marine animals you can spot here are spotted eagle rays, reef snook, reef sharks, permit and sea turtles.
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