FERNANDO DE NORONHA DIVE SITES

Descriptions of the dive sites of Fernando de Noronha Brazil:

Buraco do Caracao - 72 feet (22m)
Free of currents, in a calm portion of the inside sea, this is a great dive site for beginning divers. Stones roll down from the surface to the bottom at 70 feet, and continue along the sea floor. The rocky bottom is covered by seaweed and sponges of various colors and shapes. Look for turtles, nurse sharks, and a wide variety of tropical fish.

Buraco das Cabras - 53 feet (16m)
One of Noronha's most colorful dive sites, this is a drift dive through Rata and Meio islands, where you start in the outside sea and drift with the current into the inside sea.   Formations of eroded rocks look like a submerged city in ruins, creating an interesting appeal. There are a huge variety of animals that can be seen here, including turtles, barracudas, black jacks, manta rays, hammerhead sharks, queen angelfish, lobsters, octopus, and a lot of corals and sponges.

Buraco do Inferno - 55 feet (17m)
Named "Hell's Cave" for the small cave of the same name that exists on the rock, but the name is deceiving for such a calm dive. Beautiful rocky formations with a small grotto of volcanic pebble substratum, whose ceiling forms a bubble where it is possible to breathe without a regulator. This is a large area with a diversity of distinct dive options, and features such animals as french angelfish, coneys, turtles, nurse sharks, manta rays, basking sharks, and sting rays followed by trevalley, feeding on the small animals removed from the bottom of the rays.

Cabeco da Sapata - 145 feet (43m)
The Cabeco - a small submarine mountain - rises out of the sandy sea floor nearly to the surface, housing large schools of horse-eyed jacks (pompano), grunts, chromis and triggerfish. In the deeper portion, a passage allows you to cross from one side to the other. Intense currents, coming from the outside sea, guarantee above average visibility. Big sharks are often sighted here, as well as turtles and other traveling fish. This is an advanced dive site for experienced divers, due to it's depth and strong currents. The unique topography of this site allows it to be explored from bottom to top, making this an excellent multi-level dive.

Cabeco das Caieiras - 59 feet (18m)
A submarine mountain, consisting of two different mounds covered with fire corals, rising nearly to the surface, this Cabeco is inhabited by turtles, juvenile sharks, large schools of yellow chubs, Florida pompanos and rays. It's not difficult to find more than one nurse shark sharing a burrow. This is a calm dive site with excellent visibility, suitable for divers of all levels.

Cabeco das Cordas - 130 feet (40m)
Named after the fishing boats that would anchor here, and in rough seas would lose their anchors, you can find these anchors today, complete with ropes up to 15m in length. Giant groupers are common here, along with rock hinds and other traveling fish.

Cabeco Submarino - 65 feet (20m)
This is a great dive for turtle lovers, as it's a meeting place for turtles that frequent nearby Baia do Sueste. The rocky sea floor is covered by seaweed and sponges, where huge green turtles can often be seen resting and feeding. The dive circles the cabeco (submarine mountain that rises nearly to the surface).    Here you'll find many lairs with big fish, lobsters, barracudas and huge schools of sea chubs and other fish.

Cagarras Fundas - 100 feet (30m) - See our dive review of this site.
A huge vertical wall dive, with the rocky pillars extending from the surface to the sandy bottom, features a large concentrations of great sponges in vase form. It is habitat for some unusual reef fish sighted in the archipelago, such as Queen angelfish, rock beauty, and gray angelfish. Remarkable biodeversity exists on this site, according to our divemaster, is known locally as "bird shit", for the propensity of white droppings on the surrounding rocks. An excellent place to watch rays feeding on the rocky bottom covered with seaweed.

Cagarras Rasas - 53 feet (16m)
This shallow dive site is excellent for first time divers, checkouts, and refreshers. Huge stones covered with fire corals where one can find a wide variety of ornamental fish. The big rock formations are crowded with shrimp, damselfish, surgeons, sponges and corals, where barracudas frequent cleaning stations (places where small fish and shrimps clean the skin of other fish, removing its parasites).

Caverna da Sapata - 90 feet (27m)
A huge underwater cave with a sandy bottom, where stingrays usually rest. In the end of the cave, where it's opening is illuminated by the deep blue sea, rests a lead plate of the first Globo Reporter documentary produced in the Marine National Park. The cave is ample and easy to enter, with a rocky seaboard covered with corals, many sponges and fish. Occasionally visited by giant grouper, big jewfish and sea turtles, with a good chance of finding rays inside the cave.

Cordilheiras - 82 feet (25m)
Named "Rocky Mountains" for it's resemblance to the famed mountain range, the relief changes dramatically to an underwater canyon. Look for territorial fish, nurse sharks, reef sharks, rock hinds, and eagle rays.

Corveta V 17 - 210 feet (63m)
Regarded by experts as one of the world's best wreck dives, an almost completely intact navy warship rests perfectly in navigational position on the sandy seafloor, at a depth of about 180 feet, it's distinct bow cannon covered by sponges. The shipwreck is surrounded by a conger-eel garden, and big traveling fish are usually sighted, as are mackerel, manta rays, eagle rays, mahi mahi, tunny fish, and even occasionally mighty whale sharks. Advanced technical divers can penetrate the vessel and sight devices still preserved in the interior of the ship.

Ilha da Viuvinha - 50 feet 15m)
Surrounded by mounds covered by fire coral and various polychaetes, look for schools of fish, octopus and lobsters swarming this small island.

Ilha do Frade - 75 feet (23m)
The only harbored spot in the outward sea, there is a distinct difference between the area surrounding the island and the open ocean, allowing a calm, tranquil plunge to it's visitors. Diving starts at 20 feet, where beginner dives can be conducted, and continues among rocky grottos and formations until reaching 78 feet at the sandy bottom. Here, sea chubs, sharks, eagle rays, stingrays, turtles, lobsters, and schools of yellow chubs are frequently found. This is an excellent place for sea turtle sightings.

Ilha do Meio - 40 feet (13m)
A series of three caves that are easily penetrated. The first one possesses a restriction in it's interior, where introductions to cave diving can be conducted.   Inside of this one, large anemones and an infinity of shrimps are usually found, while at the opening find schools of small fish, moray eels and red lobsters hiding in small burrows. Also frequently spotted here are nurse sharks, octopus, and a wide variety of fish.

Ilha dos Ovos - 72 feet (22m)

This dive site encircles the island of the same name, with a passage between gigantic rocks inhabited by a school of grunts. The island's profile, providing small caves, attracts schools of ornamental fish, lobsters, and other crustaceans. Chromis, sergeant majors, black triggerfish and schools of yellow chubs fill the water.

Iuias - 80 feet (24m)
One of the best dive sites in Noronha. it is subjected to currents of varying intensity, requiring the diver to have good technical skills. The dive site is a rock formation covered with corals, featuring a great concentration of crevices and passages, forming a labyrinth covered by sponges, where schools of fish seek shelter. Big fish like black grouper and jewfish love this site, and eagle rays and nurse sharks are also sighted. A huge variety of flora and fauna.

Laje dos 2 Iromaos - 80 feet (24m)
A rock where the famous waves of Cacimba do Padre beach form during the surf season, this is the biggest coral covered rock formation in the archipelago. Here, cleaning stations attract reef sharks, transforming the point into the main place for sighting this species. Innumberable schools of chromis and small fish are also concentrated in this area. There are frequent sightings of fine beaked sharks, horse-eye jacks, hawksbill turtles, silky sharks, and other traveling fish. Known to be Latin America's best congregation of corals of a single species.

Morro de Fora - 45 feet (15m)
Located between Meio Beach and Concecao Beach, this is a great option for a tranquil and safe dive when the inside ocean is calm. The white sand seafloor contrasts with the formations of rocks, while some small passages make this a good option for beginning divers. A natural nursery with several juvenile species, including gqueen angelfish, flounders, turtles, octopus and other small species looking for shelter under the rock.

Naufragio do Leao - 33 feet (10m)
This is an old shipwreck which has been completely demolished. Shipwreck pieces are spread over the seafloor, and serve as shelter for schools of fish and crustaceans that mix between seaweed and small rocks. The dive site is sheltered by a bay, and is ideal for beginning divers when the predominant wind comes from the outside sea, however it can have a variety of currents, which at times require some technical skills.

Naufragio da Porto - 25 feet (8m)
A huge greek cargo ship that ran ashore on Porto Beach in the 1920s. Despite being dynamited, the boilers, parts of the engine and a helix are still preservered, and teh propeller and rudder are easily identified. It presents a hardware tunnel where colorful schools of fish shelter, especially pretty in the afternoon. Ideal point for night and late-evening dives or shipwreck diving without a boat. Great for checkout courses and snorkeling.

Pedras Secas - 55 feet (17m)
One of the world's top ten dive sites, this is one of the most desired dive sites in Fernando de Noronha. A spectacular rocky formation with tunnels and canyons, offering maximum visibility, and a rocky bottom covered with sea life, surrounded by arches, canyons and small caverns. Exclusive eroded rock formations rise to the surface, and are constantly punished by the undulations of the sea. A 60-foot tunnel lined by hydrocorals and sponges gives way to a canyon filled with schools of grunts, black margates and squirrelfish, frequently disturbed by big trevallies that feed here. Sea turtles and sand sharks are usually sighted around the point, where the diving finishes, in a place where the waves break in the surface, creating quite a scene. A great variety of corals, sponges, and fauna.

Ponta de Macaxeira - 130 feet (40m) - See our dive review of this site.
The dive starts along a huge wall that reaches from the coast of Rata island to the sandy seafloor. With prime visibility due to it's location, the point has strong currents at times, and requires advanced skills from experienced divers. At depth, you'll find diverse schools of fish in backlighting, composing a scene different from any other point of the archipelago. Look for nurse sharks, schools of pompanos (horse-eyed jacks), and rock hinds.

Pontal do Norte - 150 feet (45m)
A huge submerged rock that looks like an underwater skyscraper. This is a beautiful dive that begins at sand level, with large fish sightings, slowly ascending to 20 meters, making a nice multi-level dive. One giant boulder appears at 72 feet as you descend, and extends through a cliff. The high visibility and high depth turn this point into an ideal place for experienced divers. Snappers, black groupers, and large sharks are usually sighted, as well as rock hinds and hawksbill turtles.

Resurreta - 40 feet (13m) - See our dive review of this site.

One of the area's most visited dive sites, this is a dive conducted between Rata and Meio islands, where the predominant current from the outside sea flows into the inside sea, making this an excellent spot for drift diving and for first-time divers. However, even the most experienced divers can be amazed by this site. Crevices in the rock are covered with sponges and lobsters, showing off multicolored schools of fish and frequently big travelers. An old anchor provides an additional attraction. Great for night dives.

Sela Ginete - 59 feet (18m)
Located in the hillside of the Sela Gineta Island, the dive takes place throughout a wall surrounded by sand at the sea floor. It is a drift dive, starting at the outward sea, and ending on the inward sea, passing between Rasa Island and Sela Gineta. Many schools of fish of diverse species, including sea chubs, sergeant majors, squirrelfish, turtles, and lobsters.