Pixie Pinnacle

A single soft coral spire rising from a sandy 30 m bottom to within 5 m of the surface, no more than 15 m wide at the base. The whole column is wrapped in soft corals and gorgonian fans, with a permanent pink cloud of anthias hovering against the blue. Lionfish patrol caves and overhangs, leaf scorpionfish wedge into coral nubs, magnificent nudibranchs crawl the rubble at the base, and schools of bigeye trevally sweep past the pinnacle. Whitetip reef sharks cruise the sand. Currents are usually mild but can rip on tide changes; the bommie is small enough to circle in one dive. Pixie sits on Ribbon Reef 10 a short distance from Cod Hole and is reached only by liveaboard from Cairns or Port Douglas.