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This article was written for a diving magazine, which I can’t remember the name, in 1983. Louise and I wrote this article while in Nauru .

About the Authors:

Louise Thomas is a High School teacher who lived on Nauru for two years. Having learned diving on Nauru, she became a very experienced diver with more than 200 dives logged in two years and a record depth of 210 feet (approximately 70 meters).

The "rooster" and master diver who had a terrible time teaching such a clumsy and overdressed lady is called Fernando Costa and is responsible for the "running out of film" business in this article. However he logged over 500 dives on Nauru during the 4 years of his stay on the Island.

Louise spearing an octopus

The small island of Nauru lies 32 miles south of the equator at the longitude of 166.55 east. It has a perimeter of little more than 11 miles and covers and area of 8.2 square miles. Upon this equatorial micro dot dwells a cosmopolitan population of 7000, with Indians, Australians, Fidjians, Chinese, Philipino, Tongans, Guilbertese, Solomon Islanders, among some of the faces seen everyday.

Nauru’s life source is its rich phosphate deposits. The phosphate fields occupy over one third of the total area of the island with new mining and excavations occurring daily. Looking from the Island’s one major road one gains an impression of the island being not unlike a boater hat; a narrow "brim" of flat sandy soil makes the perimeter of the island. The coastal belt gives way to coral cliffs, softened with tropical bush wich rises some 100 feet above the sea level. These cliffs were home to the Japanese soldier who held Nauru from 1942-45. The cliffs and the coastal line are impregnated with thick concrete bunkers, gun implacements and command posts, remnants of a bloody past.

A ship loading phosphate in No 1 Cantilever

Although Nauru’s land form is somewhat limited above sea level, the reef and surrounding ocean offer boundless entertainment. The reef is recognised in two distinct sections. A flat tidal reef, streatching some 50 yards, perfect for shelling in the cool of the evening or a warm dip at high tide. A tidal reef that falls away dramatically with a constant line of white breakers marking the division between land and the deep Pacific.

Once over the tidal reef, Neptune’s world opens up before you. The reef wall slopes downwardslike a steep hill, unending in its descent. The western side of the island around the Boat Harbour and Cantilevers has a particular steep drop, with a sheer 90 feet wall of coral descending to 160 feet before it slopes outward to form a narrow shelf. With such a definite division between land and the sea it is possible for the cargo ships to "parallel park" beside the reef, mooring at buoys which are chained to sea bed 1500 feet below.

Because Nauru has no sheltered waters, no sandy bay or natural harbour the marine life is the one which can endure rough ocean movement. The coral tends to be strong and tick and there is a definite lack of sea weeds and soft algae.

Not all the reef is as steep as that near the Cantelivers. On the northern and southern sides there are sections of the reef that slopes gently between 40 to 60 feet. The waters are clear and teeming with coral and fish. Small pockets of coarse sand are scattered about these shelveswich drop away every 60-80 feet. It is possible to snorkel or shallow dive in these areas and enjoy a rainbow of colours with heavy traffic of passing fish.

Feather starfish ( Comanthus Bennetti)

resting on a coral formation