17th December 2024- Manta Ray in The Gap

Christmas came early today at South Solitary Island! We had a big boat full of keen divers who loaded up Mega Wild this morning and shot out to the island for some great time in the water. With a bit of current running downhill, we wanted to save the top end of the island for our second dive – so everyone got in the water at The Gantry for the first dive! The second dive saw divers jump in at Shark Gutters for a swim down Boulder Wall to again finish at The Gantry.

Visibility on the first dive ranged from 5 to 10 meters, becoming noticeably dirtier on the west side of five metre rock as it dropped a bit deeper. In the shallows however, divers lucked out and the water cleared up a bit- displaying loads of fish life, a couple Octopus, Kent’s Cuttlefish, and Green Turtles. The top end of the Island at Shark Gutters had great visibility, up to 12 metres! The gutters themselves were full of Grey Nurse Sharks and the Boulder Wall had loads of Bull Rays swimming up and down. The real treat, however, was the Manta Ray seen gliding through the water around the Gap! A patch of warm water hit around the 5 metre area outside of the Gap, and we were soooo pleasantly surprised to see the beautiful animal swimming in the same area for a considerable amount of time – letting us watch! A cormorant bird was also duck diving and hunting for some of the fish that was schooling, which was a pretty cool sight to see.

Unfortunately, Sea World still has yet to find the Grey Nurse Shark with the rope wrapped around its tail on their rescue mission. We see fishing equipment affecting the marine life at South Solitary far more than we would like to see. This is all the reason to be reminded to be mindful of your etiquette whilst at sea and to leave it better than you found it!

Conditions Report

Visibility 5-12 metres

Temperature 19-22°C