15th November 2024- Great & Scalloped HAMMERHEAD, WHALER, AND NURSES

SoWild shot out to South Solitary today for two fantstic double dives! Upon reaching the island, we had extremely blue water and could see the bottom of the island from all over our dive sites, even at Manta Arch! Water temperatures just touched 23°C and everyone was that keen to jump in!

First up, SoWild saw divers jump in at Manta Arch for a cruise around the Arch and in to the back gutter. A bit of a thermocline was felt upon descent, and although the visibility was still amazing, it definetly went a bit murky compared to the top 12m! There were heaps of Grey Nurse Sharks around the bottom of the mooring, and even more inside of the arch. With about 30+ inside of the arch and 20 or so around the mooring, we saww 50 Grey Nurse Sharks give or take! To our surprise, we were also pleased to see a Bronze Whaler sitting on the platform in front of the Arch, swimming amongst the nurse sharks!

After a nice surface interval in the sun, divers jumped in at Shark Gutters for a crusie around the top end’s gutters. This was an amazing dive, with pool like visibility! A nice 23°C was felt the entire dive. Julz our divemaster described seeing a “really big” Hammerhead. After further investigation of footage, it was indeed a Great Hammerhead Shark that was crusing around amongst the other 15 or so Scallopped Hammerheads! This is not something we see often, so was definetely a bit of treat! A few Green Sea Turtles were seen, swimming alongside big schools of fish. Other locals were seen, such as White Eyed Moray Eels, Black Cod, and Nathan Fripp!!

Condition Report

Visibility: 20-25 on first dive, 30+ on the second

Temperature: 23°C