reef

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L’Orient, Wreck

If you're after a proper wreck dive, the L’Orient is our pick on the west coast. We love that it was sunk as an artificial reef, not an accident, meaning it’s upright and relatively intact, sitting at a max of 43m. It’s a dive for experienced hands, definitely not one for your first deep dive, but the reward is a quiet, atmospheric exploration. The depth keeps the crowds away; often, you’ll be the only boat there, which makes for a more personal experience. Descending, the hull gradually resolves from the blue. There are good opportunities to penetrate some of the cargo holds, where you might find cave cardinals schooling, or an undulated moray peeking from the gloom. Outside, schools of blue green chromis shimmer over the decks, and we’ve seen big long-nosed butterflyfish picking at the corals that have started to colonise the metalwork. Keep an eye out for blackside hawkfish perched on the rails and largebrain root coral growing in surprising places. Visibility here averages around 28m, so you get a good sense of the wreck's scale.