Tanjung Mangguar

A rocky headland on the western shore of Cenderawasih Bay National Park where an underwater canyon splits the wall into two channels, funnelling current and concentrating plankton. The site is the only one in the bay where both whale sharks (passing through rather than resident) and large pelagics such as dogtooth tuna and wahoo regularly appear in the same dive. Below the canyon at 22 to 30 m, a series of overhangs houses clouds of glassfish and attendant lionfish and grouper. Sea fans and black coral bushes grow on the wall faces; nudibranchs and flatworms are abundant on the rubble at the base. The site can be dived as a gentle drift on slack tide or as a challenging current dive on a strong flow.