Menu
World famous for good reason, this action-packed dive site gets its name from the castle-like peak of the seamount just below the water’s surface.
North of Komodo Island, nestled in between the islands of Gili Lawa Laut and Gili Lawat Darat is the world-famous Cauldron dive site, aka Shotgun. This dive site is located in a narrow channel between the two islands and gets its name from the stunning Cauldron like bowl that divers drop into, before rising up to a narrow channel in the rock and shooting above the reef like a shotgun. This site has strong currents so it’s not suitable for beginner divers or divers without moderate experience in currents.
Marine life at The Cauldron is varied and impressive. We quite often see everyone’s favourite, Manta Rays at this site. But there is also a lot of other big things like Reef Sharks, massive Stingrays, Devil Rays, Eagle Rays, bigger fish like Giant Trevally and schooling Snapper. Smaller fish and other creatures are also abundant like Glass Fish, Surgeon Fish, Garden Eels, Frog Fish, Nudibranchs and Pygmy Seahorses. For coral on this site there is also some beautiful soft corals and gorgonian sea fans, especially on the walls of the Cauldron and the sandy bottom leading up to it, and great hard corals at the end in China Shop.
This is a falling tide dive site, we want to hit it at the right time so that the water current flow is from west to east. This will suck all the water in towards the Cauldron and then through the shotgun to give us the best action-packed current dive. We will drop into the water next to Gili Lawa Laut island and follow the slopping reef down. You will see the amazing corals across this reef as soon as we jump in. We will head down to about 23m where this slope turns into a sandy bottom. We then start to move in an easterly direction, exploring this sandy bottom.
There are a few sea fans around this area that are normally pretty reliable to find Pygmy Seahorses on, for those with fine-tuned macro spotting eyes. From there we will move onto a coral rubble flat and continue to hunt for some cool critters around here. The profile will has raised from 23m to 15m here, and that’s where you come across the western lip of the Cauldron.
An impressive site to see, like a giant bowl at the bottom of the ocean. We drop down into the bowl of the Cauldron to hit a maximum depth of 23m. We will take a look around here for a while in what is the proverbial “calm before the storm”. When its time, your dive guide will prepare you by reminding you to empty your BCD of any air and take you up into the shotgun.
You will raise your profile and get pulled into a small rocky channel on the eastern side of the Cauldron and start your adrenalin pumping ride along the rocky reefs bottom. After this fun ride you will end up in a stunning hard coral garden known as China Shop. We hang around here for a while for another chance to see Mantas, until its time to start making our way up for the safety stop.
Click the burger icon on the right to expand/collapse
Topography: Channel drift dive
Max Depth: 25 meters
Typical Current: Strong
Best For: An exhilarating slingshot in the current!
Snorkeller friendly
Scuba diving, Snorkeling or just leisure? We got you. Contact us today to turn your dream into reality. Let’s go!
