A GREAT DAY AT FISH ROCK

Fish Rock is one of the most famous dive sites in Australia . Located off the New South Wales coast, this small rocky outcrop swarms with marine life and has an amazing cave that cuts right through the rock. Divers flock to this dive site to explore the cave, but for shark lovers it is a great place to encounter wobbegongs and especially grey nurse sharks.
    Fish Rock is located off the town of South West Rocks , about a six hour drive north of Sydney . Over the last twenty years I have dived Fish Rock many times. But it has been an unlucky site for me for shark encounters, until recently. Over the years I have encountered plenty of wobbegongs (three species of wobbegong are common here) but never had much luck with grey nurse shark encounters.
    Grey nurse sharks (Carcharias taurus), also known as sand-tigers in the USA, are found around Fish Rock all year, with peak numbers seen from April to November. I dived Fish Rock at least a dozen times over ten years before I saw my first grey nurse shark here. Even diving at peak times the sharks would disappear just before I arrived. When I finally did see some grey nurse at Fish Rock, the visibility was terrible. While other divers were telling me about seeing dozens of grey nurse in crystal clear water, I was starting to doubt I would ever have a great grey nurse shark experience at Fish Rock.
    In December 2008, my wife Helen and I stopped in at South West Rocks while driving to Sydney . We booked in for two days of diving with Fish Rock Dive Centre, but didn’t expect to see many, if any, grey nurse. Dropping into the dive center I expected the owner, Jon Cragg, to tell me that the visibility was terrible and no sharks were about. Instead he informed us that the visibility was nice and there were plenty of grey nurse sharks in residence.
    The next day found us on the dive boat and tied to the mooring ready to dive. The weather was perfect, almost flat seas, no wind and surprisingly no current, Fish Rock is nearly always washed by strong currents. We jumped into the water to find the visibility 50 ft, then followed guide Larry to the deep gutter where the entrance of Fish Rock Cave can be found. Descending into the gutter we were greeted by a large grey nurse. We dropped to the bottom at 80 ft and looking around I counted a dozen grey nurse cruising about the gutter. I shot a few images, but there were a lot of particles in the water and the water was quite dark this early in the morning.
    After watching the sharks swimming above us for several minutes we followed Larry into the cave. Fish Rock Cave is a sensational dive; the cave is around 400 ft long and takes several dives to thoroughly explore. Torches on, we parted a thick curtain of bullseyes to enter the cave. Only a few feet 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 Fish Rock Cave is always astonishing; shining our torches around we spotted crayfish, shrimps, squirrelfish, glasseyes, featherstars, sea cucumbers, moray eels and several ornate and spotted wobbies. Usually I would take more time exploring the darker recesses of the cave, but today I knew something special was awaiting us at the shallow cave entrance.
    Navigating through the darker sections of the cave I could soon see the dim light of the shallow entrance, this light almost completely blocked by schools of bullseyes. We paused to photograph the resident black cod, but soon forgot this large fish when I 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 I have dived Fish Rock Cave I have never seen grey nurse sharks in the cave, so was going to enjoy this experience. I settled down on the boulders, carefully between two large banded wobbegongs, and for the next twenty minutes watched and photographed these incredible sharks as they slowly patrolled up and down the gutter, into the cave and amongst the fish. The sharks seemed to be unconcerned by our presence, maintaining normal swim patterns, which included swimming only inches above my head.
    There were both male and female sharks ranging in size from five feet to eight feet in length. Several of the sharks had mating bites along their flanges, hope for the future of this threatened species. I shot image after image, pleased that the visibility was a lot better here, around 70 ft and with fewer particles.
    I 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 minefield of wobbies. Helen and I then sat in the gutter for another five minutes watching the sharks, some of which were playing chicken with us – swimming straight at our heads, forcing us to duck. With plenty of images in the camera and our air running low we reluctantly returned to the boat.
    During our surface interval Larry produced a selection of treats, soup, tea, coffee, biscuits, fruitcake and lollies. But these we had to share with a squadron of mosquitoes, 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 100 ft to 25 ft, but we stayed above 70 ft as this was where the clear water was and all the action. Heading north we encountered several blue gropers and more wobbies 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 10 ft in length.
    We watched the sharks slowly moving up and down the wall, and with so many sharks aggregating around Fish Rock you wouldn’t think that this species is on the brink of extinction in Australia . Protected in New South Wales since 1984, grey nurse numbers continue to decline from fishing pressures, with diver surveys indicating that only 500 may be left. I was 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 New South Wales 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!
    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 70 ft 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 several large banded and spotted wobbegongs. This was the best day of diving I had ever had a Fish Rock, calm, clear, no current and wall-to-wall grey nurse sharks.
    The following day was almost as good, but the wind and current had returned. After four brilliant dives at Fish Rock we were reluctant to pack the gear and hit the road. It had been a fabulous two days, and I was leaving with some of the best memories and images of grey nurse I have had in over twenty years of diving with these impressive sharks.

More information – Fish Rock Dive Centre

Article appeared in Shark Diver Magazine No.20 May 2009