Tweed Heads & Cook Island Byron Bay Ballina Coff's Harbour
South West Rocks Port Macquarie Lord Howe Island Norfolk Island
North Haven Forster-Seal Rocks Port Stephens
Newcastle-Swansea Sydney North Sydney South
Wollongong to Kiama Jervis Bay Uladulla
Bateman's Bay Narooma-Montague Island Tathra Merimbula
The Central Coast of New South Wales, between Norah Head and Broken Bay, has always been a favourite Sydneysider holiday destination.
Inexpensive scuba diving day trips and an excellent range of accommodation are available.
Plentiful marine life can be found on numerous scuba diving and snorkeling sites accessible from the shore; and an endless selection of offshore reefs and interesting wrecks, in a variety of depths, can be easily reached by boat, thereby taking advantage of the underwater photography opportunities.
Laying in its daytime residence beneath a cave , or overhang, the Spotted Wobbegong Orectolobus maculatus appears oblivious to all around it . Nothing could be further from the truth. These sharks are fast, tenacious and have sharp pointed teeth, especially designed for grabing onto, and holding fish. They have also held onto a few humans who would have preferred not to have had the experience.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Divers visiting the Central Coast will find dive shops at Long Jetty, Terrigal and Umina. Local dive operators run boat dives to the best sites in the area. Being so close to Sydney, the Central Coast can be very busy on weekends and over the school holidays, so always book ahead. The best time of the year to dive is over winter, when the crowds disappear, the perfect weekend getaway.
One of the most attractive nudibranchs along the east coast of New South Wales the Sweet Ceratosoma Ceratosoma amoena occurs all around southern Australia and is also found in New Zealand. It grows to 60 mm and feeds on sponges.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Bird Island
Bird Island is a nature reserve to the north of Norah Head. Reef fish, numerous invertebrates, blue gropers, Port Jackson sharks, cuttlefish and sting rays are just a few of the inhabitants of the gutters and caves on the surrounding rugged rocky reef at depths from 9-20 m.
Due to its unique pattern the Mosiac Sea Star Plectaster decanus is easy to identyify despite its many colour variations. It is found all along the coast of southern Australia and feeds primarily on sponges. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
The Shallows
This large reef system has many excellent dive sites along its length. Most of the rocky reef is in 12-18 m, but some areas drop to 30-40 m. The reef has a good coverage of sponges and kelp, and plenty of reef fish. One huge, 25 m-wide canyon cuts through the reef, its sides dropping from 18-25 m. This canyon is often full of yellowtail and bullseyes. Wobbegongs, stingrays and a large family of blue devilfish can be found along the bottom.
Forming huge schools around offshore and onshore reefs, Yellow-tail Scad Trachurus novaezealandiae inhabit the waters around southern Australia.
( photo: Jorina van der Westhuizen)
Three Mile Reef
Located off Norah Head at a depth of 8-20 m, this large reef, also known as 'The Bommies', features walls, pinnacles, caves and multi-coloured sponge gardens. Pelagic fish, grey nurse sharks and bronze whalers are plentiful. Nearby, at 46 m, lies the remains of the Kiama which sank in 1951.
A rarely seen species which is widely distributed across the Indo - Pacific, the Sinuate Ceratosoma sinuatum also has a netted pattern and is subject to colour variations. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Nerong Shipwreck
The 36 m long Nerong foundered off Norah Head in 1917, and part of the hull, the engine, winches, boiler and prop shaft now lie in 42 m of water. The wreck has attracted bullseyes, yellowtail, trevally, kingfish, mackerel, wobbegongs, reef fish and even the occasional bronze whaler shark.
A very characteristic little fish that has little fear of divers and allows close encounters, the Blotched hawkfish Cirrhitichthys aprinus may be seen throughout the Indo - Pacificc and at least as far south as Montague island in New South Wales. It sits on reefs, corals, soft corals, sponges and in amongst the fronds of black coral trees down to 30 metres. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Commonwealth Shipwreck
The Commonwealth, carrying a cargo of coal, foundered off Terrigal in 1916. The remains of the 36 m long wooden steamer, boilers, engines and other bits of wreckage, can be found scattered over the rocky bottom at a depth of 35 m.
Foggy Reef
Foggy Reef, at a depth of 30-40 m, is a wonderful boat dive. Its gutters, caves, walls and ledges are covered in sea tulips, gorgonians and ascidians. Browsing nudibranchs, molluscs, reef and pelagic fish, blue gropers, wobbegongs, cuttlefish, kingfish and grey nurse sharks over winter (particularly at Foggy Cave), are usual sights. ( photo: Nigel Marsh)
Lovens Feather Star Antedon loveni is endemic to the central east coast of Australia. Although it only grows to 60 mm across, what it lacks in size it makes up for in numbers; on some reefs there are thousands and thousands of them. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
The Cave
This shore dive off Terrigal is a deep gutter, about 15 m deep and 45 m long, cutting into the reef. Best attempted in calm conditions, parts of the gutter are covered by boulders, forming caves. The walls are coated with kelp, sponges, ascidians and sea squirts, and, if you look closely, you will find nudibranchs and shrimp. Stingrays, cuttlefish, yellowtail, blue devilfish, kingfish and blue gropers are often seen.
Goatfish are always easy to recognise due to their shape and charactistic sensory barbells under the chin. The Black - spot Goatfish Parupenus signatus may be seen as a solitary , or in small groups feeding amongst sand, rubble and even on reef . They occur from central Queensland to southern New South Wales, as well as in central Western Australia. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Forresters Reef
Cuttlefish, Port Jackson sharks, stingrays, blue gropers, wobbegongs and masses of reef fish inhabit this colourful reef, which has a maximum depth of 30 m. Forresters Reef always manages to put on something special for divers, especially when washed by clear, blue ocean currents.
The Haven
The Haven is a popular location for snorkelling and open water diving. Sheltered and shallow, the rocky reef is well worth a dive as many invertebrate species, reef fish, giant black stingrays, cuttlefish, moray eels, electric rays, wobbegongs, blue gropers and Port Jackson sharks are always about.
Found in only a metre of water, this red form of Southern Corallimorph Corynactis australis also occurs in intertidal pools, on cave ceilings, under ledges, on wrecks and under jetties. It has been recorded as causing a rash if touched with bare hands. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Galava Shipwreck
In 1927, the coal ship Galava foundered and sank of Terrigal in 52 m of water. The 42 m long ship has started to break up, but provides a rewarding dive for experienced divers. Similar to other deep-water wrecks, it attracts masses of fish life, typically bullseyes, kingfish, yellowtail and trevally.
Tweed Heads & Cook Island Byron Bay Ballina Coff's Harbour
South West Rocks Port Macquarie Lord Howe Island Norfolk Island
North Haven Forster-Seal Rocks Port Stephens
Newcastle-Swansea Sydney North Sydney South
Wollongong to Kiama Jervis Bay Uladulla
Bateman's Bay Narooma-Montague Island Tathra Merimbula
Neville Coleman's diving expeditions, fauna surveys, photographic fauna surveys and marine life identification courses include every major group of marine life.
Neville Coleman's expertise in living taxonomy and marine life identification extends to the identification of Algae, Sea Grass, Forams, Sponges, Stony Corals, Soft Corals, Sea Anemones, Sea Jellies, Zoanthids, Corallimorphs, Black Corals, Flatworms, Segmented Worms, Crustaceans, Barnacles, Shrimps, Rock Lobsters, Hermit Crabs, Squat Lobsters, Molluscs, Chitons, Univalves, Bivalves, Cephalopods, Octopus, Cuttlefish, Squid, Opisthobranchs, Nudibranchs, Sea Slugs, Bryozoans, Sea Mosses, Echinoderms, Sea Stars, Feather Stars, Brittle Stars, Sea Urchins, Sea Cucumbers, Ascidians/Sea Squirts, Marine Fish, Sharks, Marine Reptiles, and Marine Mammals, all found in the waters around the Central Coast and Terrigal.
( Copyright Neville Coleman/Nigel Marsh)
