Brisbane is located in the south of the state and is one of the fastest growing cities in Australia. The cost of living is reasonable, the climate is sub-tropical, the pace of life is relaxed and there are numerous tourist attractions. One of Brisbane’s least known attractions is diving.
All of Brisbane’s dive sites are located off Moreton Island and North Stradbroke Island, which form part of Moreton Bay. Dive conditions off Brisbane are generally good throughout the year and rough conditions don’t always stop dive trips, as there are many protected dive sites to choose from. Lying in a sub-tropical region the water temperature varies from 18C in winter to 26C in summer. While the visibility in Moreton Bay varies from 5m to 15m, while outside the bay it varies from 10m to 30m.
There are too many dive sites off Brisbane to cover in the space of one article, so I will review some of my favourite sites off North Stradbroke Island.
Shag Rock is located just off the northern end of North Stradbroke Island. This barren little monolith is home to hundreds of sea birds and surrounded by some very pretty coral gardens. The rocky bottom around Shag Rock is decorated with numerous hard and soft corals, with black coral trees found in deeper water. Sea urchins thrive at the site, clinging to every vacant spot. Many divers end a dive at Shag Rock with urchin spines stuck in their wetsuit, as collisions with these spiny invertebrates are sometimes difficult to avoid.
Shag Rock is a macro photographers delight, nudibranchs, sea stars, octopus, cuttlefish, featherstars, shrimps, coral crabs, flatworms, cowries and other lovely sea shells are all found here. Anemones are prolific and provide shelter for anemonefish and delicate porcelain crabs.
Though large fish are not always seen at Shag Rock, small tropical fish are plentiful. Leatherjackets, damsels, globefish, coralfish, butterflyfish, lionfish, scorpionfish, parrotfish, goatfish and angelfish inhabit Shag Rock’s coral gardens. Most diving at Shag Rock is in the 10 to 15m range, but it is possible to get down to 25m on parts of the reef.
Several kilometres north of Shag Rock is Flat Rock, which offers deeper and more dramatic diving in clear water. Around Flat Rock are gutters and walls in depths from 15m to 35m. Though the coral growth around Flat Rock is excellent, divers come here to see big marine life. Pelagic fish are common; bullet like kingfish fly passed divers in formation looking for smaller fish to feed on, swarms of trevally gather above divers and even the odd Spanish mackerel cruises past.
In most gutters, divers will find turtles, wobbegong sharks, leopard sharks, moray eels, crayfish, stingrays and even large gropers. Above the reef eagle rays and manta rays can be seen soaring in the current.
Popular year round, Flat Rock is especially exciting in winter and spring when grey nurse sharks gather in the gutters around the rock. Up to a dozen of these majestic sharks can be seen in the main gutter on the southeastern tip of the island, known as ‘Shark Alley’. Divers are asked to adhere to a Code of Conduct when diving with grey nurse, staying on the side of the gutter to avoid disturbing the sharks. Critically endangered on the east coast of Australia, divers are asked to respect the sharks and their habitat. It is a spectacular sight seeing a dozen 2m long sharks swimming up and down this gutter and generally the sharks come quite close to inspect divers.
Because Flat Rock is such an important grey nurse shark habitat, it was fully protected from fishing on 19 December 2003 by the Queensland Government.
Closer to North Stradbroke Island, and often effected by currents and dirty water, is a collection of small rocky outcrops known as The Group. In April 1991 I was lucky enough to be one of the first divers to explore this site. That first dive I was amazed to encountered five manta rays, dozens of leopard sharks, stingrays and countless fish. The site is now called Manta Bommie, and it is one of the best dive sites I have ever dived.
Manta Bommie is a roc
ky reef varying in depth from 6m to 15m and is dominated
by one large bommie. The coral growth is quite good and an incredible variety of
invertebrate species can be seen, including Spanish dancer nudibranchs. However,
as the name suggest, manta rays are the main attraction. Up to a dozen manta
rays can be seen at the site from October to May. They either glide around the
reef feeding, or hover over the bommie to get cleaned by the resident population
of cleaner wrasse.Manta Bommie seems to attract marine life like a magnet. Pelagic fish swarm above the reef, including trevally, kingfish, batfish, rainbow runner and even barracuda. Turtles are very common and can be seen resting in a number of caves that dot the site. Also seen in the caves are wobbegong sharks, brown-banded catsharks, lionfish, pineapplefish and crayfish.
A number of sandy gutters dominate the site and can be packed with dozens of leopard sharks, huge white-spotted shovelnose rays and stingrays. At times there is so much marine life that it is hard to know which way to look and which way to point your camera.
The Brisbane area is serviced by a dozen dive shops, all offer dive courses, hire gear, retail gear, boat dives and local knowledge.