Coconut Point Cave

Meet the site

Beneath the drift dive at Coconut Point lies a submarine cave system that most visiting divers never see. It was documented during a 2014 scientific survey of Christmas Island's submarine and anchialine caves (Tan, Naruse, Fujita and Tan, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology), which recorded its position and described a cave system with a narrow mouth about 3 m across at 15 m, affected by strong surge during tidal change.

Christmas Island's coastline is honeycombed with caves formed when sea levels were lower, and many of them extend back into the island's limestone to anchialine pools where fresh groundwater sits over seawater. These caves host specialised crustaceans – crabs, shrimps and lobsters – some known only from the island, and the survey team was collecting and documenting that fauna. Coconut Point's cave was one of the sites on their list, alongside Daniel Roux, Thunderdome, Thundercliff and West White Beach caves.

This is not a recreational dive. A 3 m restriction at 15 m, combined with surge that can push and pull divers through the mouth at tide changes, makes it a serious overhead environment, and there is no published account of recreational visits. Anyone intending to enter it would need full cave training, a local guide or operator's support, and a slack-water, flat-calm window.

It is included here as a named, documented feature rather than as a recommended dive. For recreational divers, the reef and eel gardens above make up the Coconut Point drift, and the island's accessible cave experiences are at Thundercliff, West White Beach Cave, Boat Cave and, with a guide, Daniel Roux and Thunderdome.

What you might see

Specialised cave crustaceans (anchialine fauna); reef fish, garden eels and gorgonians outside

Location

Submarine cave system with a narrow 3 m mouth at 15 m below Coconut Point, subject to strong surge at tide changes.

Facilities nearby

Departs Flying Fish Cove jetty/ramp.