One of the best dive sites on the Gold Coast is the shipwreck of the Scottish Prince. The Scottish Prince was a 64m long iron barque that ran aground on the 3rd of February 1887. She soon became a total wreck, sinking in 12m of water. Much of her cargo of whisky and beer was salvaged at the time and very much enjoyed by the local population.
Today the wreck is protected as a historic site. Sitting on the sand the remains of the ship are laid out for one to explore. The most prominent features of the wreck are the bow and stern that sit high off the bottom and offer a resting place for wobbegong sharks and stingrays.
The main factor that makes th
e Scottish
Prince such a great dive is the marine life it attracts. Sitting in a desert
of sand it is an oasis for marine life. On some days the whole wreck can be
covered in bullseyes and yellowtail. Reef fish are abundant, and divers will
also see kingfish, jewfish and cobia at times.Boat diving sites off the Gold Coast are rather limited, but one excellent site is Palm Beach Reef. This reef covers a wide area in depths from 6m to 22m and divers can explore gutters, ledges, caves and pinnacles. The rocky bottom is covered in wonderful hard and soft corals, ascidians, gorgonians, sponges and black corals trees.
Large fish populations inhabit Palm Beach Reef with divers seeing anemonefish, butterflyfish, lionfish, moray eels, goatfish, morwong, angelfish, kingfish, bonito and mackerel. Invertebrate species include sea stars, nudibranchs, feather stars and crustaceans. Turtles, eagle rays, wobbegongs and stingrays are also common, and this site is a good place to see leopard sharks over summer.
Other excellent boat diving sites are found at the southern end of the Gold Coast off Tweed Heads, which is actually in New South Wales.
Very few shore diving sites exist in Queensland, however there are several interesting shore diving sites around the Gold Coast. Busy with divers and snorkellers every weekend is the Gold Coast Seaway. This rocky breakwall is best dived on the high tide, though exciting drift dives can also be done on the incoming tide.
Divers will find a surprising collection of marine life at the Seaway. Schools of trevally, mackerel, bream, surgeonfish, bullseyes and yellowtail cruise along the channel, which reaches a maximum depth of 10m. In amongst the rocks are lionfish, angelfish, old wives, hawkfish, butterflyfish, stonefish, damsels, catfish, wrasse, morwong, leatherjackets, parrotfish and moray eels.
One of the best spots to explore is a large elevated outlet pipe, which is covered in sponges, soft corals and ascidians. You can swim around, under and over the pipe, which has a number of recesses and holes where shrimps, crabs, octopus and the odd groper hide.
The one Gold Coast theme park that all divers should visit is Sea World. While they have dolphin and seal shows, rides, water ski shows and many other attractions, they also have Shark Bay, the largest shark exhibit in the world.
The Shark Bay complex includes a Touch Pool, where you can feel the texture of sea stars and other marine creatures. For the kids there is an Inter-Tidal Zone, which is like a large rock pool where children can wade the shallows, interact and learn about marine life from the Sea World staff. The Reef Lagoon contains reef fish, rays and harmless shark species, and is where the public can snorkel and scuba dive with the sharks. The main feature is the huge Shark Lagoon, where the larger and potentially dangerous sharks are kept, such as tiger sharks, bull sharks and dusky whalers.
The Reef Lagoon is 3m deep and doing either the shark snorkel or scuba dive is a lot of fun. As you swim around the lagoon you will be surprised by the amount of marine life. There are masses of colourful reef fish; blue tangs, angelfish, butterflyfish, rabbitfish, triggerfish, batfish, sweetlip, wrasse and many more. The largest fish in the lagoon is a rather shy Queensland groper, that likes to spend the day peering through the viewing window at all the tourist.
The ray family is well represented in the lagoon, with a black blotched stingray, estuary stingrays, blue spotted stingrays, large shovelnose rays and many graceful spotted eagle rays.
The largest sharks in the Reef Lagoon are the leopard sharks, which spend the day resting on the bottom. If you look closely under ledges you will find grey carpet sharks. The white tip reef sharks also spend much of the day resting on the bottom, either on the sand, or in one of the small caves. The most entertaining sharks are the black tip reef sharks and the nervous sharks, that zip around divers.
One of the best features is two large glass windows that allow you to look at the larger sharks in the Shark Lagoon. The tiger sharks, dusky whalers and bull sharks are an impressive sight as they patrolled their domain. If you want a closer look at these large predators and a chance to feed them Sea World offer a limited number of spaces each week on their Shark Encounter program. This experience gives you a behind the scenes look at Shark Bay and the opportunity to get in a shark cage to feed these magnificent marine creatures.
Diving conditions on the Gold Coast are generally good year round, with summer offering the most unstable weather. Visibility varies from 5m to 25m, averaging around 15m, with the water temperature ranging from 18 to 26 degrees C.