Ponta do Ouro

The diving runs off the beach in the middle of the village. Boats are dragged down to the water and driven out through the shore break with everyone braced on the pontoons, and the reefs lie close inshore, so transits are short. Sites are worked as a string running north and south of the launch point, and the skipper picks by the conditions that morning. Two dives with a break on the sand between them is the standard morning, and the boat comes back in bow-first onto the beach.

The reef is fossilised dune sandstone rather than living coral rock: long ridges running parallel to the shore, undercut ledges, overhangs and gullies, with soft coral, sponge and clouds of goldies over the top. Sites sort cleanly by depth. The shallow inshore reefs are gentle and hold the densest small-fish life, the mid-depth ridges along the sand line take most of the day-to-day diving, and the offshore reefs drop past 30 m, where gas planning buys only a short window on the bottom.

Dolphin encounters happen on snorkel rather than scuba, and on the animals' terms. The boat finds the pod, swimmers slip in quietly ahead of them, and the pod decides whether to stay or carry on. The coast here lies inside a partial marine reserve proclaimed in 2009, and licensed operators work to a code of conduct governing how boats and swimmers approach; the same animals turn up often enough that researchers have catalogued individuals from photographs. Some mornings it simply does not come off.

On the deeper reefs the routine is to settle low against the ridge and watch the open water off its edge, since the larger animals tend to pass along the drop rather than over the reef top. That means short bottom times, planned ascents and, on the deepest sites, paperwork the centre will actually ask to see. The village is a self-catering one of camps, lodges and a few shops, and the diving sets the shape of the day. Anyone after sheltered water and easy shore entries will not find them here.