So thickly encrusted, it is hard to know what to look at first. Tiny posies of dainty cup corals are squashed between wads of sponges. Most of the sponges are brightly coloured but the most famous is the colour of alabaster. Famous, that is, because of their rarity and because at least one famous person, Jacques Cousteau, has singled them out for special mention. The arch rivals any piece of baroque architecture and no artist would have had the audacity to cram so many shapes, colours and textures on one canvas.
Nature has no shame, it seems.
Like children eager to show off the area and hoping for a tip at the end, fish follow us around the site, hurrying us along. We pause to watch a brittle star sliding over a sponge, but the yellowtail snappers want us to be on the move. Disappointingly for them, we have no tip for our faithful followers who are, we suspect, used to being fed. From the arch we zip through a narrow arcade, equally richly trimmed, and come face to face with the Chimney. It is an extension of the arcade, formed by two slabs of rock, which leaves just enough space for a diver to pass.