Dive Reports – April 2015
Take a look at our dive reports form April 2015! We’ve detailed what we saw, the temperature and visibility, and surface conditions of the Solitary Islands in Coffs Harbour in April 2015.
Table of Contents:
1ST APRIL 2015 – JETTY HIGH OPEN WATER DIVE COURSE
After a day off from diving it was great to get back into the water at South Solitary Island today, 1st of April 2015.
Arriving at the Island we were all super excited to see the crystal clear water. We saw octopus, Black Cod, Green Turtles, Eagle Rays, Slipper Lobster and a Shovel Nose Ray – and that’s just some of today’s highlights!
Well done to the Jetty High Students who completed their first two open water dives today!
Conditions Report:
- Pretty lumpy on top today, but it was beautiful underneath.
- Temperature: 25°C
- Visibility: 30m
Dive Report by Andy
2ND APRIL 2015 – BLUE AND WARM AT SOUTH SOLITARY ISLAND
The Boulder Wall at South Solitary Island was the place to be today! Schools of fish as far as the eye could see! Black Cod, Turtles, Groper, Eagle Rays and “Scooter” the Shovel Nose Ray were all spotted by our divers!
Conditions Report:
- Much nicer on top today
- Temperature: 25°C
- Visbility: 25m
Dive Report by Andy
3RD APRIL 2015 – LEOPARD SHARK AT SOUTH SOLITARY ISLAND
Easter Weekend kicked off beautifully with yet another spectacular day at South Solitary Island!!!
Dive one was from Manta Arch to The Gantry via The Gap while dive two was from Cleaner Station to South Boulder along the wall.
Loads to see on both dives including Grey Nurse Sharks, Bullrays, Nudibranchs, Diamond Trevally, Lionfish, Turtles, Eagle rays, Black Cod, Painted Crayfish, Blue Anglefish, schools of Bulls-eyes and Pomfreds, and one lonely LEOPARD SHARK!!!! Customers said today that it was one of the best dives they have ever done!!! Congratulations to Blye for finishing his Advanced Open Water today!!!
There was also rumours that an Easter bunny was seen at depth? Must of been nitrogen narcosis!!
Photo taken today of the leopard Shark near cleaner Station by Lindsay
Conditions Report:
- NE breeze 8 knots, 1.2m swell
- Temperature: 25°C
- Visibility: 25m-30m
Dive Report by Lindsay
4TH APRIL 2015 – EASTER SATURDAY DIVES!
Easter Saturday provided us with some great diving despite the rough weather.
Dive one was a leisurely swim from manta Arch to the Cleaner Station. There was so many Silver Trevally under the Arch the Sharks had to hustle for room.
Sheltering from the freshening southerly we chose Shark Gutters for our second dive. Turtles, Black Cod, Eagle Rays, Lion Fish and a small school of Mac Tuna were spotted on this dive!
Conditions Report:
- Lumpy on top, beautiful underneath
- Temperature: 24°C
- Visibility: 20m
Dive Report by Andy
5TH APRIL 2015 – EASTER SUNDAY DIVING
This morning’s rainy weather turned into a beautiful day for diving!
Dive 1 for certified divers was a swim from Manta Arch to Cleaner Station where divers spotted the usual suspects – Grey Nurse, Turtles and Wobbegongs galore!
Dive 2 was spent at Shark Gutters for both certified divers and students, where the sun decided to come out, for a beautiful, brighter dive. Lionfish and nudibranchs were spotted, and even the Easter Bunny made an appearance or two.
Conditions Report:
- Temperature: 20°C
- Visibility: 20m
Dive Report by Lindsay
6TH APRIL 2015 -25M VISIBILITY FOR MIKES BIRTHDAY DIVE!!!
Beautiful conditions today meant an easy trip out to South Solitary Island for a double dive.
Dive one was at Manta Arch, we could just see the bottom from the surface!!! Around eight Grey Nurse Sharks in the Arch, Black cod, Slipper Lobsters, Nudibranchs, and an Octopus near the mooring line.
Dive two had us at Shark Gutters where the action on Boulder was stirred up due to a large school of Kingfish swooping in and causing chaos!!! Some divers saw about 7-8 Wobbygongs all piled on top of each other!! maybe they found the last Easter egg. There was also a lot of Big schools of Pomfreds and Blue Grouper everywhere.
Happy Birthday Mike we hope you had a great day!!!
Photo taken today by Deb of the Wobbygong sandwich!!!
Congratulations to Maddy for finishing her Search and Recovery Specialty!!!
Conditions Report:
- WNW breeze 7 knots, 1.7m swell
- Temperature: 24°C – 25°C
- Visibility: 20m-25m
Dive Report by Lindsay
8TH APRIL 2015 – LEOPARD SHARKS ROAM SOUTH SOLITARY ISLAND!
Again the diving conditions at South Solitary island were fantastic today!
Protected from the NW breeze, dive one was held at Manta Arch. As our divers descended down under the arch they encountered four Grey Nurse Sharks and a mob of Silver Trevally.
Dive two began at Shark Gutters. With zero current our divers were able to explore the top end of the island including the Boulder Wall. 2 Leopard Sharks were spotted in different locations, one swimming on the Boulder Wall and the other resting on the bottom of the Cleaner Station gutter. Turtles, Black Cod, schooling Kingfish and another Grey Nurse Shark were also spotted on this dive.
Check out this shot of Olly with “Spot” the Leopard Shark!
Conditions Report:
- NW breeze making the surface slightly lumpy today
- Temperature: 24°C
- Visibility: 15″m-20m
Dive Report by Andy
12TH APRIL 2015 – SPECTACULAR CONDITIONS AT THE SOLITARY ISLANDS
What a stunner of a day at South Solitary Island!! The glassy surface conditions made it a super fast trip out on Wild Fin !!
All divers were dropped in at Manta Arch for the first dive, only 4-5 Grey Nurse Sharks were spotted in the Arch lots of Silver trevally in there too.
Dive 2 was a very relaxed and beautiful dive from Cleaner Station to South Boulder, large schools of fish on the Wall and in the gutters, a few Wobbygongs, Moray eels, Sting rays, Nudibranchs, Slipper Lobsters, Blue Tangs and a large Black Cod hanging around South Boulder mooring.
Conditions Report:
- SE breeze 7 knts & 1.0m Swell
- Temperature: 25°C
- Visibility: 25m-30m
- Current: Mild
Dive Report by Lindsay
15TH APRIL 2015 – MID WEEK DIVING AT SOUTH SOLITARY ISLAND!!
South Solitary Island put on a great display of marine life today!!
There was still a decent SE swell present so Dive 1 was at Shark Gutters where our divers seen a few Green Sea Turtles, Lionfish, very strange looking nudibranchs in Cleaner Station Cave and loads of Surgeon Fish hanging high in the shallows.
After some delious jelly snakes, soup, tea and coffee on the surface interval we decided to take advantage of the current and done a drift from Cleaner Station down to South Boulder. There was some monster King-Fish seen on boulder wall, around 5 Black Cod all together in Shark Gutters and a good number of Wobbygongs roaming around the sea floor.
Congratulations to Hugh, Nic, Jesse, Daniel, Will and Issac from Jetty High School, They all completed there PADI Open Water Course today.
Conditions Report:
- Very flat and calm
- Temperature: 24°C
- Visibility: 12m
- Current: Strong
Dive Report by Lindsay
16TH APRIL 2015 – LEOPARD SHARK AT BUCHANAN’S WALL
North Westerlies pushed us around to Manta Arch for out first dive of today, only three Grey Nurse Sharks were seen under the Arch, a very cute family of Yellow Box-fish in the back gutter and 2 Eagle Rays swimming high in the current.
We took shelter at Buchanan’s Wall for the surface interval and Dive two. Lindsay spotted Nine Lion-fish on the dive, there was big schools of Pomfeds hanging around the line and Cameron’s group seen a rare Leopard Shark down near Cable Trail.
Congratulations to Jake for becoming a PADI Open Water Diver and also to Olly who is now a PADI Advanced Open Water Diver… Well-done!!!
Conditions Report:
- NW 6knts, 1.2m Swell. Lumpy
- Temperature: 24C
- Visibility: 18-20m
- Current: Strong
Dive Report by Mike
17TH APRIL 2015 – MANTA ARCH HAS ANOTHER SURPRISE!
This morning was a little choppy on the way out to The Light House but the island gave us enough shelter from the wind at Manta Arch… Grey Nurse Sharks, Black Cod, Lionfish and Turtles were just some of the highlights. A lucky and Rare find was the critter in this picture, in a small cave at the mooring. Anyone like to guess what it is? Mike and Deb saw a few overseas at Dumagette in the Philippines in September of 2014!
Second Dive was a gentle drift around the top of South solitary to see the thousands of fish that were about today
Photo taken by Nathan.
Conditions Report:
- NW breeze 5-8 Knts, 1.0m Swell
- Temperature: 24°C
- Visbility: 15m-18m
Dive Report by Mike
18TH APRIL 2015 – ROBUST GHOST PIPE FISH SPOTTED WITH A FRIEND
Two great dives at South Solitary Island this morning although there was an ugly NW wind we found shelter at Manta Arch for dive one.
Nathan found the same Robust Ghost Pipe Fish near Manta Arch but this time she had a buddy!! Only 2 Grey Nurse Sharks were seen today but plenty of Nudibranch’s and big schools of Fusiliers.
Dive two had some exciting critters at The Gantry with a few Octopus near the line, a single Bat Fish on 5m Rock and some beautiful Basslets hanging around the remains of the Gantry structure under water.
Photo today taken by Nathan Fripp of the two Ghost Pipe Fish.
Conditions Report:
- Choppy NW 11 knots
- Temperature: 23°C
- Visibility: 12m-15m
Dive Report by Lindsay
19TH APRIL 2015 – SUNDAY DIVING @ SOUTH SOLITARY ISLAND
With Wild Fin loaded with excited divers we headed for South Solitary Island for this mornings dives. Buchanan’s Wall was our first dive site. Despite the slight drop in visibility there was still plenty to see. Some of the highlights were Black Cod, Lionfish, Green Turtles and some schooling Kingfish.
Today’s second dive was a drift from Shark Gutters to the Gantry. More Black Cod, Bull Rays, Eagle Rays and three Shovel Nose Rays were spotted by our divers on this dive.
Congratulations to Grahame, Dean and Nathan on completing your Open Water Dive Course today!
Conditions Report:
- Slight chop on top easing as the day went on.
- Temp 23
- Vis 8-10m
Dive Report by Andy
23RD APRIL 2015 – GLASSY CONDITIONS AT SOUTH SOLITARY ISLAND
After spending three days out of the water due to inclement weather we were all very keen and excited to get back out for a dive this morning.
With no wind and minimal swell it made for an ideal run to South Solitary Island!
First drop was at Shark Gutters. Eagle Rays, Black Cod, schools of Tarwhine and a Shovel Nose Ray were just some of the highlights.
Round two was a leisurely drift from Shark Gutters to the Gantry. More Eagle Rays, Wobbegong Sharks, Moray Eels, schooling Kingfish and two very friendly Green Turtles were all spotted by our divers.
Conditions Report:
- No wind. Beautiful on top.
- Temperature: 23°C
- Visibility: 10m-15m
Dive Report by Lindsay
24TH APRIL 2015 – BLACK ROCK FOR A CHANGE OF SCENERY
We had three lovely ladies doing research from a Sydney Uni on the boat today so everybody got the chance to dive Black Rock which is about 800 – 1000m West from South Solitary Island.
Really great dive there with a lot of good terrain, Lots and lots of Nudibranch, heaps of Lion fish, Moray Eels, Leather Jackets, big schools of Bullseye fish and this monster Black Cod posing for a photo.
Congratulations to Sophie, Toby and Lance for becoming PADI Open Water Divers!!!
Conditions Report:
- Flat and calm
- Temperature: 23°C
- Visibility: 15-20m
Dive Report by Andy
25TH APRIL 2015 – ANZAC DAY DIVING AT THE SOLITARY ISLANDS
Taking advantage of the beautiful weather we shot out to South Solitary Island for today’s dives.
Our first site was everyone’s favorite Manta Arch. Grey Nurse Sharks, Black Cod, Moray Eels and schooling Trevally were just some of the highlights.
With a calm sea and very little current we jumped in at Black Rock for today’s second dive. Exploring the network of gutters our divers spotted a wide variety of marine life including a Loggerhead Turtle, Eagle and Bull Rays, Wobbegong Sharks, Lionfish and a number of Samson Fish patrolling the area.
This photo was taken by Sarah on today’s dive at Black Rock.
Conditions Report:
- Beautiful above and below the surface today
- Temperature: 23C
- Visibility: 15-20m
Dive Report by Andy
