St. Crispin's Reef

St. Crispin's Reef is an elongate outer-shelf^[1] coral reef in the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland, Australia.

Location and topography

Named after St. Crispin, the French patron saint of cobblers and tanners,^[2] St. Crispin's Reef is located 35 miles off the Queensland coast in the Coral Sea,^[3] in latitude 16° 07' 54.14" S longitude 145° 48' 22.46" E, at a depth of 9 metres.^[4] It lies east of Undine Reef and south of Agincourt Reefs, close to Opal Reef.^[5][6] Protected by neighbor reefs, St. Crispin's structure consists of many shallow sandy channels that reticulate around coral mounds, rather than a typical reef slope. It has an abundance of soft corals and colourful marine life.^[7]

Marine life

St. Crispin's Reef is a popular diving and snorkeling spot for expeditions from Port Douglas and Cairns.^[8] Nicknamed "Flower garden", the reef is host to Sergeant majors, Sweet lips, reef sharks, feather stars and bumphead parrot fish.^[3][9]

Classification

Classified by the Marine Park Authority for "Intensive use",^[10] the reef has four moorings.^[3] In 1998, divers Tom and Eileen Lonergan were accidentally left here by their dive expedition, and went missing. Their bodies were never found. The tragedy inspired the film Open Water.^[11]