Go Dive is a
Dive Quest is a spacious 11.4m long by 4m wide custom built catamaran and powered by two 300 HP Verado Mariners, this boat flies across Moreton Bay. On board Dive Quest carries all the standard safety gear, plus a toilet and outdoor shower. The boat is surveyed for 22 people, but carries a maximum of 16 divers, making for plenty of room on this spacious and comfortable dive boat.
Dive Quest operates from Manly, departing from the East Coast Marina, and can make the run across
After horrible weather conditions over Christmas and New Year it was finally great to see some nice conditions, the rain had stopped, the seas had dropped and the wind had tapered off. It didn’t take long to cross
Shag Rock is one of
Hitting the bottom we were greeted by two large black blotched stingrays that glided off across the sand before we could photograph them. Simon and I explored the coral coated boulders finding wobbies, anemonefish, blue
spotted
stingrays, globefish, morwong and an abundance of reef fish. Above us darted
schools of yellowtail and bullseyes that were feeding on coral spawn, which we
had earlier seen floating on the surface.With an hour long bottom time we explored all the nooks and crannies in depths from 5m to 15m, finding octopus, crabs, shrimps and half a dozen brown banded catsharks wedged under coral or boulders. At the end of the dive we enjoyed the company of two hawksbill turtles and spotted a leopard shark resting on the bottom. After a surface interval of tea, coffee and biscuits, Adam motored the boat over to Manta Bommie for our second dive. A strong current appeared to be running as we anchored, perfect conditions for an action packed dive at this spectacular site.
Jumping in Simon and I quickly headed to the bottom, below us we could already see a dozen leopard sharks either lazing on the bottom or swimming about. Reaching the bottom, only 8m deep, we photographed a couple of the leopard sharks and then headed north into the current. Reaching the main set of bommies there were no manta rays to be seen, this is where they usually hover to be cleaned, so we continued north to the edge of the drop-off.
On the way to the drop-off we passed a dozen more leopard sharks, they were just everywhere today, and a number of blue spotted stingrays digging in the sand. At the drop-off we surveyed the area for manta rays in the 20m visibility, but none were around. But it was hard to be disappointed as before us were another dozen leopard sharks, two spotted eagle rays hovering in the current, several large white spotted shovelnose rays, a cowtail stingray and a group of small-eye stingrays. For the next minute I was mesmerised just watching this amazing collection of sharks and rays spread out before me.
Simon and I drifted down the drop-off, not very big only going from 9m to 15m, and then cruised over the sand admiring and photographing all the elasmobranches. I hadn’t seen Manta Bommie this good in years, there must have been fifty leopard sharks around the reef. After zooming past the sharks and rays, and exploring a few of the ledges, we headed into the shallows to get out of the current and to see if the manta rays were hiding up there.
Up in the shallows were even more leopard sharks, eagle rays and a school of squid, but unfortunately no manta rays, I suspect they were off feeding on the coral spawn. We ended the dive exploring the bommies, finding crayfish, octopus, wobbegongs, reef fish, turtles and a huge pregnant black blotched stingray. We all surface from that dive exhausted from fighting the current but on a high after encountering so much amazing marine life.
The trip back to Manly flew by, probably because we were all busy talking about all the marine life we had seen at Manta Bommie. With us back at the