Reef-Front Beaches

The reef begins at the shore. These are beaches valued for what is visible through a mask within a few minutes of walking in — coral heads, fish, sometimes turtles — rather than for the sand, which is often narrow. Because the reef starts at the shore, entry is frequently over rock or coral rubble rather than sand, and several of these beaches are entered by jetty for that reason. Standing on coral damages it and injures the person doing it, and most of the sites in this world are now managed with marked entries, capped numbers or guides. The reward for those constraints is immediacy — fish and coral within a minute of leaving the sand, which is rare enough to be the whole reason these beaches are recorded separately.