Ervatão Reef

On Boa Vista's exposed eastern coast, Ervatão Reef is a series of submerged rocky ridges dropping from 5 m to 30 m, best known as a loggerhead turtle stronghold in an island group that hosts one of the largest nesting populations of this species in the eastern Atlantic. Hawksbill turtles join the loggerheads around the reef's deeper sections while shoals of blacktip reef sharks patrol the ridge tops and nurse sharks rest in the sand channels between the spurs. The site's orientation into the Atlantic swell means current is a constant companion but also concentrates the plankton that keeps the reef productive.