We have visited South West Rocks many times over the years and have enjoyed some wonderful dives, but our most recent visit was simply spectacular. Driving from
Arriving in the afternoon we checked in and then met up with Jon Cragg, the owner/operator of Fish Rock Dive Centre. Jon informed us that the forecast was good and we should have some good dives over the next few days.
The next day we awoke to a perfect day, no wind and warm. With the dive boat, a 7.5m catamaran surveyed for 12 divers, located in front of the dive shop, all the gear was loaded here and we then jumped into the 4WD for the trip to the boat ramp. The crew, Larry and Simon, quickly had the boat into the water and we were soon racing down the
Half an hour later found us tied up at the mooring at Fish Rock and ready to explore the famous
Once in the water the visibility was nice, around15m and the water temperature was a pleasant 21°C. Larry led us over to the deep entrance and we descended into the gutter to find a dozen grey nurse sharks cruising about. After a few photos of the sharks we skirted around the side of the gutter to avoid disturbing these endangered predators.
Torches on, we parted a thick curtain of bullseyes to enter the cave. Only a few metres in we were greeted by one of the cave watchdogs, a rather large banded wobbegong lazing on the cave floor. We slipped over this wobby and followed Larry to ‘The Chimney’ where the passage rises vertically into the upper cave.
The life in
Navigating through the darker sections of the cave we could soon see the dim light of the shallow entrance, the light almost completely blocked by schools of bullseyes. We paused to photograph the resident black cod, but soon forgot this large fish when we could see our main goal – the silhouettes of a dozen grey nurse sharks cruising amongst the fish at the cave mouth.
In all the times we have dived
There were both male and female sharks ranging in size from 1.5m to 2.5m in length. Several of the sharks had mating bites along their flanges, hope for the future of this threatened species.
We could have spent all day watching this impressive parade of sharks, but with another group of divers coming up behind us we made our way along the side of the gutter, avoiding the grey nurse and wobbies, and headed back to the boat.
During our surface interval Larry and Simon produced a selection of treats, soup, tea, coffee, biscuits, fruitcake and lollies. But these we had to share with a squadron of mosquitos, with no wind a swarm of mozzies from Fish Rock had the rare opportunity to feed on human blood. We couldn’t complain about this rare event, as with no wind and no current we could dive The Pinnacle off the northern end of Fish Rock.
With the top of The Pinnacle visible from the surface we couldn’t wait to get in, also to get away from the mozzies. The Pinnacle rises from 30m to 8m, but we stayed above 20m as this was where the clear water was and all the action. Heading north we encountered several blue gropers, wobbies and schools of red morwong before we reached wall-to-wall grey nurse sharks. Patrolling the western side of The Pinnacle were at least twenty grey nurse, including some very large females 3m in length.
We watched the sharks slowly moving up and down the wall, and with so many sharks aggregating around Fish Rock you would think that protection is working and the sharks are increasing in number. Unfortunately this is not the case and we were saddened to see several of the sharks sporting fishhooks and line protruding from their jaws. Even though Fish Rock is ‘protected’ as a grey nurse habitat, the NSW Fisheries in all their wisdom still allow fishing – the main threat to the shark’s survival. Above us were a dozen boats still legally fishing at Fish Rock, as long as they didn’t anchor! The protection of the grey nurse shark should have been taken out of the hands of the NSW Fisheries along time ago, as they still haven’t got it right 25 years after the sharks were first protected.
After watching this impressive collection of sharks we drifted along the wall and came to the ridge that links The Pinnacle with Fish Rock, where another dozen grey nurse were swimming about. The visibility on this ridge was clearer at 20m and alive with fish and sharks. A school of stripeys hovered in mid-water and sweeping around them were bullseyes and yellowtail. Above were schools of batfish and fusiliers, and swimming between them all, the grey nurse sharks.
After more shark watching and photos we finished the dive by exploring the gutters that riddle the top of The Pinnacle, finding moray eels, wobbegongs and some colourful nudibranchs. This was the best day of diving we had ever had a Fish Rock, calm, clear, no current and wall-to-wall sharks.
For our second day of divin
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the northerly winds had picked up, but it was still quite calm on the mooring on
the southern side of Fish Rock. For our first dive we headed to the shallow
entrance of Finally dropping into the gutter that leads to the cave, we again had a dozen grey nurse sharks slowly patrolling their territory. We couldn’t resist a few more shark photos, but today we were after smaller subjects. As we made our way into the cave we found several green moray eels, hermit crabs, shrimps and even a mosaic moray eel that was too shy for a photo. Ducking under the fish and sharks we entered the cave to find a large black-blotched stingray lazing on the bottom and two grey nurse a fair way into the cave.
We headed over to the white gorgonians, a feature of the cave that doesn’t appear to have changed much in 20 years, for several photos. After exploring the cave for ten minutes we were checking out a gathering of hermit crabs on the floor of the cave when a very curious hawksbill turtle suddenly appeared beside us. Simon had informed us to keep an eye out for this turtle, called ‘Herbert’, that has become a regular in the cave. This turtle swam around us a few times and then settled on the bottom to feed on the sponges. We left Herbert to munch on sponges in the dark and slowly made our way back to the boat.
For our final dive we explored the walls of the deep cave gutter, looking in all the cracks and crevasses for critters. Ignoring the grey nurse, most of the time, we found octopus, cowries, shrimps, crayfish, wobbies, a blind shark, nudies, sea stars, scorpionfish, a slipper cray and even a beautiful Spanish dancer. We also saw several black cod, which appear to have increased in number at Fish Rock.
Making our way to the eastern point, where eagle rays gather in the current, we hung on to see several kingfish and one spotted eagle ray. But the highlight of the dive was finding a tiny blue-ringed octopus that was crawling across the sponges.
We had four brilliant dives at South West Rocks and were reluctant to pack the gear and hit the road. It had been a fabulous pit stop, a chance to break up the long drive to