Bargara was once a sleepy little seaside town, but not now, as in the last few years it has been redeveloped, with shops, restaurants, hotels and million dollar properties. The beaches here are wonderful, sheltered partly by Fraser Island to the south, but for divers the main attraction is the rocky shoreline. Black basalt rocks, formed by volcanic activity a million years ago, line the shore allowing corals to flourish in only metres of water, making this one of the most unique areas in Australia.
While you can jump in almost anywhere along this section of coast, local knowledge is advisable to find the best dive sites. Bargara Beach Dive are the team to contact, located in Bargara they will either take you to the best shore dive sites or show you how to get there.
Hoffman’s Rocks is one of the most popular shore diving sites. After an easy scabble over the rocks you slip into the water to find yourself surrounded by corals. Soft corals dominate the terrain and cover every rocky outcrop in depths from 2m to 8m. There are also hard corals pushing up between the soft corals, as well as gorgonians, anemones, sea whips, black corals, hydroids and sponges. There is so much coral you could easily believe you are on the Great Barrier Reef.
At Hoffman’s Rocks there are ledges, gutters and bommies to explore where invertebrate species are plentiful. Common are sea stars, feather stars, shrimps, octopus, crabs, cowries and especially nudibranchs, with even large Spanish dancers to be found. Tropical fish dart about the reef, including butterflyfish, sweetlips, scorpionfish, pufferfish, rabbitfish, lionfish, batfish, damsels, wrasse, gobies, tuskfish, rock cod and many more. One of the most beautiful residents are the scribbled angelfish, which are usually seen in pairs.
Divers will also see wobbegong sharks,
stingrays, moray eels, turtles, brown banded catsharks and even the odd giant
Queensland groper. Pelagic fish cruise by at times, including big schools of
trevally and barracuda, but also keep an eye out for olive sea snakes, which are
generally seen searching the coral for a meal.Other wonderful shore diving sites in the area include Burkitt’s Reef, Barolin Rocks and Double Rock. All have a similar amazing cover of coral and much the same marine life. Visibility around the shoreline can vary from 1m to 20m, but averages 10m. The only time it is too dirty to dive is after heavy rain.
Bargara Beach Dive can also organise boat dives on the 6m charter boat Fish Tails. The local reefs here are spectacular, but we haven’t had a chance to dive them yet, from what we are told you will see wonderful corals and marine life, and even manta rays. But the most popular boat diving site off Bargara is one we have dived many times and can’t get enough of, the Cochrane Artificial Reef.
This artificial reef was created by the Bundaberg and Districts Artificial Reef Association, with the first object sunk in 1992. Since then they have added ships, planes, concrete pipes, pontoons and many other objects to create a haven for fish and other marine life. The reef varies in depth from 14m to 18m and over 140 species of fish have been recorded on the site.
The largest ship is the 50m long gravel dredge Ceratodus II, which is actually resting upside down, but still a great dive. Fish swarm around the wreck, including kingfish, trevally, barracuda, batfish, snapper, fusiliers and a wide range of reef fish. Turtles rest on the wreckage, also watch out for coral trout and gropers. The main point of interest is the dredging arms at the bow, which are covered in coral and home to many fish, including angelfish, pufferfish and tuskfish.
The Porteur was a 40m long gravel barge that now sits upright and is great to dive. Large access holes have been cut into the hull making it very safe to explore. Inside the wreck estuary gropers and Queensland gropers can be found, along with squirrelfish and cardinalfish. Circling the top of the wreck are schools of striped barracuda, silver batfish, fusiliers, yellow-lined snapper, and feeding off them are trevally, mackerel and kingfish.
Our favourites here are the planes, two Mohawks and a larger Kingair. The Kingair has part of its wings removed, but is home to a large Queensland groper that’s body looks as round as the fuselage. An estuary cod lives in the tail, while bream, pufferfish, sweetlip and reef fish dart around the cockpit. The Mohawks are smaller, with no wings or tail, but this allows safe access into the interior where you may find lionfish or moray eels. A green turtle was resting beside one of the planes last time we dived here and schools of trevally were buzzing about.
Two Lightships are also great to dive. These 25m long mobile lighthouses were once used at nearby Fraser Island and are now home to masses of fish. Though compact there is plenty to explore on the Lightships, including the interior via access holes and the light tower. Wobbegongs, turtles, barracuda, gropers and lots of reef fish are common here.
Also seen on and around the Cochrane Artificial Reef at different times of the year are manta rays, eagle rays, stingrays, sea snakes, reef sharks, leopard sharks and shovelnose rays. Besser brick trails have been placed between most of the ships and planes, allowing you to travel from wreck to wreck on a single dive. Visibility on the reef averages 10m to 15m, but it can be 30m at times, with the water temperature varying from 28C to 18C degrees in the area.
We love the diving at Bargara so much that we have purchased a house here and plan to retire to the area, so we will have these wonderful dive sites on our doorstep everyday.