Chris Mair has been diving the Gold Coast/Tweed Heads area for over thirty years, and has been running his charter boat, Ocean Dive, for longer than he would care to remember. Ocean Dive is an 8.4m fisher mono-hull surveyed for ten divers that runs trips out of the Tweed River to the best dive sites on the Gold Coast. The boat is basic, but quite comfortable to dive from, and carries all survey safety equipment. One of the best things about diving the Gold Coast is that most of the dive sites are close to shore, no long boat rides for those that get seasick. You can quickly duck out for a double dive on Ocean Dive and be back before lunch, and have plenty of time to explore the other Gold Coast attractions
.We have been diving the Gold Coast from Ocean Dive for over ten years and must say Chris is one of the most laid back, but professional dive operators we have had the pleasure to dive with. Over the years Chris has discovered many of the best dive sites in the area, and now has over 140 dive sites on his books. However, most of these dive sites are rarely dived, due to depth, exposed location or weather factors, but one of the best dive sites in the area is also an all weather site; Cook Island.
Declared a marine sanctuary in 1998, Cook Island is surrounded by rocky reefs packed with coral and marine life. Thirteen moorings are positioned around the island to stop anchors damaging the corals. Chris has around ten dive sites he regularly visits around Cook Island, which offer superb diving.
On the northern side of the island is the Northern Ledge, where a rocky wall drops from 6m to 10m. Over summer this is a great place to encounter leopard sharks, with up to a dozen seen on some dives. The leopards laze on the sand at the base of the wall and are easily approached for photos. Diving this site at any time of the year you will see turtles, wobbegongs, stingrays, blue gropers, shovelnose rays and a huge variety of reef fish and invertebrate species. On dives here over the years we have seen everything from southern fiddler rays to Spanish dancer nudibranchs to lovely leaf scorpionfish.
The fish life around Cook Island has increased dramatically since protection from fishing, with a multitude of reef and pelagic fish seen almost anywhere around the island. Another wonderful dive site is the coral gardens on the southern side of the island in depths from 6m to 14m. There are also a series of caves and ledges here in only 5m of water where divers will find sleeping turtles, brown banded catsharks, wobbegong sharks, shrimps, crayfish, lionfish, moray eels and squirrelfish.
The eastern side of Cook Island has
caves,
gutters and ledges to explore, while off the northern tip of the island is
Mary’s Rock, surrounded by a terrain of gutters that are home to wobbegongs,
stingrays, gropers, turtles and leopard sharks in summer. Visibility at Cook
Island varies from 5m to 30m, but generally averages 12m.Apart from Cook Island there are many other fabulous dive sites off the Gold Coast. One of our favourites is Nine Mile Reef, a blade of rock rising from 30m to 10m. Over winter this is a great place to observe the endangered grey nurse shark, while over summer leopard sharks gather around the reef. Pelagic fish, gropers, turtles, stingrays and even the odd bronze whaler can be seen at this spectacular reef.
Other reefs and pinnacles include Fido Reef, Kingscliff Reef, Palm Beach Reef, South Reef, G Spot Reef and Five Mile Reef. A number of shipwrecks are also found in the area, with the SS Alberta, which sank in 1890, and the Fido, sank in 1907, the most frequently dived. Both wrecks are broken up, but are still a lot of fun to explore.
Chris runs Ocean Dive every weekend, and midweek when bookings allow. Group and individual bookings are welcome. Next time you visit the Gold Coast, don’t forget your dive gear otherwise you will miss some of the best diving on the east coast of Australia.