Tweed Heads & Cook Island Byron Bay Ballina Coff's Harbour
South West Rocks Port Macquarie Lord Howe Island
North Haven Forster-Seal Rocks Port Stephens
Newcastle-Swansea Central Coast - Terrigal Sydney North
Sydney South Wollongong to Kiama Jervis Bay Uladulla
Bateman's Bay Narooma-Montague Island Tathra Merimbula
The scuba diving, snorkeling and underwater photography at Norfolk Island is excellent with a varied and versatile range of marine flora and fauna, including sea creatures from every major marine phyla.
I conducted my own photographic fauna survey in preparation for my book "The Nature of Norfolk Island" in 1988, recording several hundred species. However, due to its location out in the South pacific, the wind blows and its the wind that dictates the diving.
Swept by South East Trade Winds during summer and the gales that roar in during winter, Norfolk Island is known for its wild weather. However, sometimes the wind and swells die down and this view over Duncombe Bay shows just how clear the water can be. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Norfolk Island was established as a penal colony in 1788, an event which turned this uninhabited island paradise into a living hell for its convict residents. After years of terrible treatment, in 1856, the convicts were transferred to the even harsher penal colony at Port Arthur, Tasmania. During those years as a penal colony, a small settlement was built along the shore at Kingston, which is now the main town.
Now housing the offices of the Legislative Assembly of Norfolk Island and the Courthouse and Judicial chambers, the Old Military barracks are an imposing sight even by today's standards.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
The deserted island was subsequently given to the Pitcairn Islanders, the descendants of the Bounty mutineers, whose own island was becoming overcrowded. They have since turned Norfolk back into a paradise, and while fishing and farming are still major occupations, tourism is now the island's most important industry.
Norfolk Island today is a Federal territory of Australia, with its own laws and customs. The island, located 1600 km north-east of Sydney, is regularly serviced by flights from Sydney and Brisbane. Norfolk enjoys a subtropical climate, but can be quite cool in winter, and diving in 5 mm suits is common year round. Visitors to the island enjoy its natural beauty, explore the historic ruins, shop duty free, fish, swim, snorkel, dive, and meet the descendants of the Bounty mutineers.
Left:The Crystal Pools are an excellent snorkel dive and have an interesting mixture of species. However, as this part of the coast is subject to enormous swells, most of the sessile life forms are low profile. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Right: Much of the life on the rocks in the Crystal Pools is surrounded by carpets of algae, yet stony corals manage to obtain a foothold and colonies appear to thrive in the clear water.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Norfolk and the nearby islands of Phillip and Nepean are surrounded by rocky reefs, which are covered in hard and soft corals, a refuge for many fish and endemic invertebrate species. A dive shop is based on the island and runs regular boat dives to the many outstanding dive sites in the area.
The deeper water reefs appear drab because although they are covered in stony corals and sea anemones and algae, these sessile growths are subdued in colour. It just takes a little more effort to find species and a torch is the one piece of equipment that makes a difference, even during the day. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
One thing is for shore, although the sessile colonies might be lacking in colour the mobile invertebrates are far from it. A common resident of many reefs was Susan's Flatworm Pseudoceros susanae, crawling around, way out in the open. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Black Bank
Black Bank is a dramatic boulder reef in depths up to 21 m. The boulders form caves, swim-throughs and gutters scattered with soft corals, sponges, sea stars, brittle stars, cowries and nudibranchs. Species of reef fish often seen include catfish, butterflyfish, wrasse, parrotfish, anemonefish, sweep, rock cod and goatfish. Kingfish and trevally in large schools and other pelagic fish are common sights.
Left: A diver looking at a Mosiac Moray Enchelycore ramosa which had its home amongst the plates of a stony coral Turbinaria sp. Under the ledges and in the caves the encrusting sessile fauna is quite colourful.
( photo: Neville Coleman)
Right:There are many caves and huge arches to explore, all with their own types of sessile creatures. One cave roof was covered in bryozoans, while another was dotted wIth sponges. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Cook's Arch
Cook's Arch (located in Duncombe Bay where there are numerous interesting dive sites) is a huge 12 m-high curve cutting through the reef, and a drop-off to 21 m. The reef here has marine growth typical of the area, soft corals, sponges, ascidians and tubastraea coral. Schools of baitfish sometimes fill the arch and other nearby caves. Gropers, morwong, rock cod, moray eels, lionfish, emperors and the occasional slipper rock lobster are founding the crevices and under the overhands and ledges.
When I first discovered this nudibranch it was so unlike any other species that it was thought to be an undescribed species. many years later it was alikened to a colour variation of Robo's Chromodoris Chromodoris roboi, a species I had originally discovered at Exmouth, Western Australia in 1972.
(photo: Neville Coleman)
Longnose Reef
The outer side of Longnose Reef drops to 30 m, and the inner side from 5-25 m. Many caves and swim-throughs are located along the walls and provide exciting diving. A torch will reveal sponges and soft corals, lionfish, rock cod, moray eels and bizarre nudibranchs. Reef fish are common, and on occasions the reef is surrounded by larger pelagic fish.
Johnnystone Rock
The tip of this dramatic pinnacle rises 2 m above the surface of the sea, and its wall descend to 30 m below. These walls are riddled with caves and ledges sheltering baitfish, shrimp, hermit crabs, cardinalfish, rock cod, sea stars, feather stars and lionfish. Schools of kingfish and trevally circle the rock looking for a meal. Stingrays, double header wrasse, turtles and the occasional groper are usually seen in the background.
Kingfish, Seriola lalandi are one of the main species targeted by fisherman and although once prolific, over the years the species has been depleted. Instead of the huge schools we used to see around Lord Howe Island in 1965, only small groups remain today. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Slaughter Bay
This sheltered bay, a popular night dive, can be explored as a shore dive. Patches of hard and soft coral, nudibranchs, sea stars, anemonefish, stingrays, snake eels, butterflyfish, shrimp, goatfish and many more species thrive at a depth of 6 m. The HMS Sirius, the flagship of the first fleet which ran aground here in 1790, lies at the edge of the bay. This historic shop has been pounded by heavy seas for over 200 years, and little remains above the sand. However, maritime archaeologists have recovered a wealth of material from the site.
Nightdiving in the lagoon is excellent and I was able to find many species that were not seen during the day. The lagoon is safe and only a few metres deep allowing maximum ( up to 2 hours) bottom time. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Reid's Folly
Located on the northern side of Nepean Island, this pinnacle drops to 24 m. The descent into a hole in the top of the pinnacle, which leads to a large archway, is an exciting dive. Hard and soft corals are numerous and the pinnacle teems with reef fish and schools of pelagics.
Although there are not as many species of Butterflyfishes at Norfolk Island as at Lord Howe Island Merten's Butterflyfish Chaetodon mertensii is very common both in the lagoon and on the reefs outside. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Clayton's Shipwreck
Located on the southern side of Nepean Island, at a depth of 16 m, this coral-encrusted reef is inhabited by damsels, anemonefish, rock cod, nudibranchs, shrimps, sea stars, butterflyfish and moray eels. The rugged terrain makes for interesting diving.
South Rock
South Rock is the best of a number of excellent dive sites found around Phillip Island. The rock, sprinkled with colonies of black coral, spiky soft corals, sponges, hard corals and ascidians, plummets into 40 m of water. Many species of colourful small reef fish and invertebrates live along the wall, while turtles, double header wrasse, trevally, sweep, kingfish, rock cod, morwong and the occasional Galapagos shark cruise the open water not far away.
Anson Bay is a beautiful area and is often sheltered from the wind. a great place for a picnic, or a snorkel. The reefs on the right hand side provide interesting species and also allow easy acccess to the water. ( photo: Neville Coleman)
Tweed Heads & Cook Island Byron Bay Ballina Coff's Harbour
South West Rocks Port Macquarie Lord Howe Island
North Haven Forster-Seal Rocks Port Stephens
Newcastle-Swansea Central Coast - Terrigal 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 Norfolk Island.
( Copyright Neville Coleman/Nigel Marsh)
