False Entrance

False Entrance takes its name from a wide cut in the reef that resembles a passage into the lagoon, which actually lies a few kilometres further north. A U-shaped gully slopes down to about 30 metres, and many bommies rise from its floor, with small blue-water swim-throughs leading from one to the next. The wall at the reef edge is decorated with gorgonian fans, sea whips and soft corals. Resident barracuda and schooling bigeye trevally hang off the edge, grey reef and whitetip sharks cruise past, and hammerheads may show up in the Australian winter. In strong current it is dived as a drift, at slack water as a relaxed tour of the bommies.