Elephant Head

Elephant Head is a dramatic topography dive built around enormous granite boulders rising from deep water. A group of three large boulders, one protruding above the surface and likened to an elephant head, forms a pinnacled cluster with steep drop-offs, swim-throughs, tunnels, arches and small caverns; the site is valued for its rock maze and topographical features more than for extensive hard-coral growth. Depths range from a few metres below the surface down to about 35–40 m (the pinnacles rise from a sandy seafloor around 40 m, with reports of the bottom reaching 70 m). Visibility is commonly 15–40 m and water temperatures are around 27–29°C. The site is accessed by liveaboard or day-boat (not a shore dive) and is often a drift dive; currents can be strong, unpredictable and may surge violently through channels, so careful buoyancy control, following the guide’s route, planning the exit toward shallower rock, and advanced/diver training (and nitrox or deep-dive training) are recommended.