We’ve spent a couple of nights off the Cousteau resort village on the edge of a sand bank that drops off into the abyss. The real name of this place is Lesiaceva Point but we call our anchorage “Cousteau Flats.” It’s a perfect spot behind the reef but with a clear shot of cooling tradewinds that we don’t get in town.

We carefully drop the hook in 12 ft of water looking out for the local residents.

They’re hard to see if you aren’t looking close and we’re worried that a careless yacht might drop a chain across one.  It’d be really easy to do.

Each anemone colony is a timid fish oasis in a desert of bare sand and eel grass.

 

They’re sprinkled around the flats several hundred feet apart. Some have one lonely clownfish.

Some are congested with whole apartment loads of clownfish and baby three-spot dascylluses.

There are a few other residents, some sea cucumbers and the odd crown-of-thorns starfish. 

Even a few clumps of  seaweed have been been heavily colonized by a range of juveniles and invertebrates.

We like this tiny filefish with his bandit mask.

These sand flat dwellers encourage us to check our anchorages carefully even when we think we have wide open clean sand.