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Dive 31 · Coral Garden

Coral heads in a lagoon

Aerial view of a turquoise lagoon with dark coral heads and patches of pale sand

Filling the tank…

In the frame

Seen from above, a clear turquoise lagoon is dotted with dark coral heads of all sizes. Pale sandy patches wind between them, and gentle ripples cover the surface.

This dive turns the picture into a 3 × 3 slide puzzle: 8 tiles and one empty space. The shuffle is fixed, so everyone starts from the same board, and it is always solvable.

Dive plan

  1. Start with the easy part: the large pale sand patch and the biggest coral heads.
  2. Almost every part of this frame has detail. The least distinct part is the repeating pattern of small coral heads, and even that has texture to go on.
  3. Finish the top row first, then the left column; the puzzle shrinks to a smaller board each time.
  4. Switch on the numbers if two tiles look alike — they show where each tile belongs.
  5. The picture is busy enough that neighbouring tiles can usually be told apart without numbers.
  6. A 3 × 3 board is small enough to solve by feel; try to finish in as few moves as you can.

Colours of the picture

Main colours, measured from the picture's pixels: teal (49%), turquoise (28%) and lagoon green (24%).

  • teal49%
  • turquoise28%
  • lagoon green24%

How deep it goes

Depth 1 of 5 — a calm paddle.

Snorkel dives are the shallow end of the logbook: small boards with pieces big enough to read at a glance.