Crinoid Canyon

Overview

Crinoid Canyon, spelled Crynoid Canyon by Starfish.ch, is listed by Starfish.ch among the dive sites of the south-east of Komodo National Park, and by Wannadive.net as a wall dive. A Wannadive.net contributor places it in a small bay just outside the southern entrance of Loh Dasami, on the southern side of Nusa Kode island, almost directly opposite Yellow Wall.

The dive

The same listing describes entering at the southern basin and following the wall counter-clockwise, starting at 25 metres and working back and forth up the wall to the surface. It describes very colourful walls covered with feather stars, with small invertebrates including nudibranchs, urchins, shrimps and crabs. Starfish.ch says Yellow Wall and Crinoid Canyon are quite similar, with walls covered in feather stars and sea cucumbers, and that the water there is especially cold because it upwells from deep water south of Rinca. It describes these walls as especially good for nudibranchs and for shrimps such as the needle shrimp that lives among sea urchin spines. Red Whale Dive Center describes a site packed with feather stars and soft corals that suits macro diving and photography, with a mini wall and sloping reef and a maximum dive depth of 20 metres.

Conditions and level

The Wannadive.net contributor calls it an easy dive with little current and recommends the early morning, with the morning sun. The listing records boat access from a liveaboard, low current, visibility of 5 to 10 metres, an average depth of 18 metres and a maximum of 25 metres, and an Open Water experience level. Maximum depths differ between Wannadive.net, at 25 metres, and Red Whale Dive Center, at 20 metres.