Dive the Wetiya Reef (www.DiveSriLanka.com)
The Yonaguni of Sri Lanka
By Dharshana Jayawardena.

Depth:32 Meters

 
       

Touch down! We have landed on a vast sandy plain. To our right, heading North-West as far as the eye can see, a looming shadow rises 10 meters high above us. This is the final outer ridge of the Wetiya Reef. As we swim over the rock face, conflicting thoughts strike our minds. Is this ridge natural or man made? The edges of the rock are so straight. Is that some sort of panel? No, it looks natural. Surely this is part of some ship wreck. No, it looks all rock. But how come it is so straight then?

We swim over the first ridge and descend into the shallow canyon below. The bottom is sandy with rocky ledges covered with coral, filter feeders, sponges, starfish jutting here and there. Small schools of Trevally swim around. So does Fusiliers, Snappers and small Groupers. Domino Damsels flutter over the Coral making a pretty sight. A large Honeycombed Moray Eel glides out from under a rock and stares at us. Just by the city of humans, this seems a busy city of fish.

We ascend a few meters and hover over another flat rocky bed. Again the edges are straight and the surface so flat and man made. The mind keeps screaming "Yonaguni!, Yonaguni!" after the famous and controversial structures discovered off Yonaguni Japan in 1987. These rocks seem so artificial too. On a flat rocky surface lies an inverted pyramid like structure, more like a sacrificial alter for Inca gods than a rocky reef under the ocean near the city of Colombo.

This is truly a three dimensional site. The possibilities are endless with lots more to see and explore.

We will need many dives to fully explore the Wetiya Reef.

 
       

Bengali Snappers inundate Wetiya
 
A ball of Black Tail Snappers mingle with red Soldierfish
 

A rocky ledge covered with colorful corals
 
The strange stone structures are home to many species of marine life
 

Bluish filter feeders adorn many of the rocks.
 
Beautiful Sawtooth Featherstars are very common here.
 

The Inca Sacrifical Alter - parts of the rock that make it look man made
 
Its amazing to think the works of nature could produce square blocks!
 
   

A solitary sponge coral
 
Domino Damsels flutter around beds of soft coral
 

The view from the outer edge away from the vast sand banks
 
More interesting shapes on the rock.
 

Wetiya is full of various kinds of filter feeders catching the current
 
Unlike the southern sites Wetiya has large Starfish
 
     

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Photo Credits: (c) www.DiveSriLanka.com