Grey nurse sharks (Carcharias taurus), also known as sand-tigers in the USA, are a wonderful shark to dive with, they look mean with those sharp dagger-like teeth, but those teeth are designed to grip fish, not cut flesh, so pose no threat to divers. Humans pose more threat to them, with the species close to extinction in
Fish Rock is located off the town of
Grey nurse sharks 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 even 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
The next day found us on the dive boat and tied to the mooring at Fish Rock ready to dive. The weather was perfect, almost flat seas, no wind and surprisingly no current, Fish Rock is nearly alw
ays
washed by strong currents, one of the reasons it is so rich with marine life. We
jumped into the water to find the visibility 15m, then followed guide Larry to
the deep gutter where the entrance of After photographing the sharks swimming above us for several minutes we followed Larry into the cave. 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 shark lazing on the cave floor. Wobbegongs look harmless, but will bite if harassed or accidentally stepped on, so always best to give them a wide berth. We slipped over this wobby and followed Larry to ‘The Chimney’ where a passage rises vertically into the upper cave.
The life in
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
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 flanks, hope for the future of this threatened species. I shot image after image of the sharks from every angle I desired.
With another group of divers coming up
behind us we exited the cave and 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.After a surface interval, Larry moved the boat to the northern end of Fish Rock. With no current we would be able to dive another special dive site at Fish Rock, The Pinnacle. With the top of The Pinnacle visible from the surface we couldn’t wait to get in. The Pinnacle rises from 30m to 9m, but we stayed above 21m, 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 sharks. Patrolling the western side of The Pinnacle was at least twenty grey nurse sharks, including some very large females 3m in length.
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.
I could have stayed all day watching these sharks patrolling the gutter, swimming amongst the fish and cruising by my smiling face, but my air was starting to get low. I finished the dive by exploring the gutters that riddle the top of The Pinnacle, finding several large banded and spotted wobbegongs and then swimming with a school of batfish under the boat. This was the best day of diving I had ever had a Fish Rock, calm, clear, no current and wall-to-wall 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 sharks I have had in over twenty years of diving with these impressive sharks.