Steve's Bommie

Steve's Bommie is a fish tornado wound around a stone spindle. The tower rises from thirty meters to just under the surface, and the standard profile is a slow helix: snapper and fusiliers wheel in bands, barracuda hold the outer orbit, and the rock itself hides a famous census of small ambush hunters, from stonefish and leaf scorpionfish to lionfish stacked in the overhangs. A plaque partway up remembers the diver the site is named for. On a still morning the top of the bommie boils with baitfish, and finishing the dive inside that cloud is the kind of thing loggers underline.

The moment you come for: Spiraling fish schools, stonefish and leaf scorpionfish hunting, memorial plaque, dense pinnacle life

Topography: Isolated coral pinnacle rising from about 30 m to within a few meters of the surface

Current: Usually gentle, but flow across the open reef edge can make the deep start feel like work.

Entry: A single pinnacle on Ribbon Reef No. 3; boats moor close and divers spiral the tower from the base upward.

Hazards: Depth at the base; superbly camouflaged venomous fish, so control buoyancy and hands.

Nitrox: Worth it here: profiles sit in the range where enriched air meaningfully extends no-stop time (with the training to use it).