Laje de Santos Marine State Park, Marine state park off Santos coast, Brazil

The Laje de Santos Marine State Park is a 5,000-hectare marine rectangle in Santos municipality, São Paulo, containing the Laje de Santos islet and the Bandolim, Brilhante and Sul e Novo rocks and reefs. The islet is the top of a mostly submerged granite mountain, 550 by 185 metres and 33 metres high, lying 22 nautical miles from the coast. Surrounding depths reach 42 metres.

The marine park was created in 1993 as a protected zone and has been managed as such since its establishment. This action reflected growing recognition of the need to protect marine environments along the São Paulo coast.

The islet's name, Laje de Santos, refers to a flat granite rock slab off Santos. Since 2003 an active NGO has joined state patrols, with volunteers and paid staff using boats and equipment to enforce the park's boundaries. Divers know the site for the Moray Wreck, an iron fishing boat sunk in 1995 as an artificial reef.

The park lies 22 nautical miles off the coast, about an hour and a half by fast boat from the mainland. Diving boats may use mooring buoys but anchoring is banned, and landing on the islet or reefs requires prior authorisation. A cold southern current makes an insulating wetsuit necessary even in summer. Dive sites include Portinho on the sheltered north coast, Boca da Baleia on the south side down to 18 metres, and Ponta Leste, which descends to 29 metres.

The park holds a deliberately sunk iron fishing boat, the Naufrágio do Moréia, wrecked in 1995 to form an artificial reef; it is disintegrating and should not be entered. It shelters sea anemones, gorgonians, crustaceans, groupers and white grunt.