| Site Type: | Scenic hard coral reef |
| Depth: | Top: 8M Median: 12M Bottom: 31M |
| Location: | End of the Arutanga Passage, and slightly north outside the fringing reef. |
The Black Rock dive site has large, hard coral stacks where turtles can be found resting; between these are gullies and there is a swim-through and the wreck of a barge to explore.
On the way to the swim through we encounter a few fish in pairs: Solander’s Tobies, and the rare Four-spot butterflies.
The clear water gives the swim through an ethereal blue quality.
As wrecks go, the barge is simple and open, and there are a few places where you can shine a light and probably give the nightfish hiding in there a fright.
On this dive too, there are Napoleon Wrasse hovering cautiously at the same depth close enough to observe us. If you turn towards them, they quietly drop into the gully and disappear.
It was on this dive that I got the best shot of an Achilles Tang, a kind of surgeon with unmistakable markings and bright orange patch on the rear of the body.
