Pedra da Gaivota

Divers walk down a rock ramp near the edge of Praia da Luz and are on the reef immediately, with no surface swim to speak of. The terrain runs from about 5 to 12 metres, over rock formations thick with large fan corals covering most of the ground, in enough colour variation that one operator describes the reef as showing everything the Atlantic here has to offer. Water is mostly clear. No wall, cave or swim-through interrupts the profile; the whole dive stays on this one shallow rock-and-coral shelf.

Large fan corals dress most of this reef in colour, and octopus and a scatter of fish move through the gaps between them, with seahorses part of the same mix. Two operators run trips to this exact reef: Blue Ocean Divers, based close by in the Lagos and Luz area, and Divers Cove, travelling in from Carvoeiro further east. The site should not be confused with Blue Ocean Divers' separately named "Seahorse reef," a different, shallower shore dive run from the same base further along this coast.

This reef's GPS point is a catalog placement, approximately located rather than independently surveyed. Both confirmed operators price the dive within their standard guided-dive or course rates, not as a separate line item.