Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving - The Gap
The main entrance into Gizo Harbour is through The Gap. This is the entrance on the south-eastern corner of Ghizo Island, right at the eastern end of the Gizo township. The Gap dive site is on the eastern side of the channel.
The current here can be very strong. On my dive here it was an incoming tide of about 1.5 knots and as such, we did the dive as a drift. After descending you encounter a wall with huge gorgonias and basket sponges. These are some of the biggest you will see anywhere. After a few minutes you need to cross over the sand to the west as the wall you are on does not lead to the exit location. It is not too far across but after only a few metres you will see the outline of a small reef. The depth is just over 30 metres and as you cross, look out for the thousands of swaying garden eels which shyly drop back into their holes as you approach.
Once on the smaller reef we saw two very large eagle rays, one large grey reef shark and a lot of barracudas. There were also many tuna and heaps of trevally here as well as further down the reef.
This small reef is separated from another larger reef by a few metres and you continue along the wall north. The depth of the bottom increases to well over 35 metres. The wall here is still quite interesting. After 30 minutes or so you will need to ascend to the top of the reef due to the depth you have been at during the dive.
The reef top is about nine metres. You can spend some time here at the top of the wall but away from the edge it is a bit bare. You will soon see a huge camshaft from the old Gizo Power Station engine and attached to it a mooring rope. If the current is strong you will not be able to use it to ascend as the current will be pulling it below the surface. When you are ready to ascend, come to the mooring and do your safety stop on the line or a bit deeper (six or seven metres) holding onto the camshaft. You do not want to do it swimming into the current as it will tire you nor do you want to drift with the current too much further.
Once you are ready, ascend and the boat picks you up. The visibility on this dive was in excess of 30 metres and the water temperature 28°C. A nice dive.
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