A Sunday Divers Special

- at least that is what we named our dive trip to Seal Rocks last Sunday.

Just over 200 kilometres and 2 1/2 hours north of the Central Coast we arrived at Seal Rocks to join six other Terrigal Underwater Group divers. It was not hard for TUG member, Jeff Heathcote to get a bunch of divers together to travel to and dive this part of the NSW coast.

Seal Rocks is a spectacular place; the rocky cliffs are punctuated by picture perfect bays and beaches. Some of the bays are suitably protected to launch small boats if you are diving independently. On Sunday we had no need to do this since we were being collected from the beach by Nick and Robb from the Foster Dive Centre.

The crew bring their Dive Cat, surveyed to carry 12 divers and two crew from Foster to the pick-up point at Seal Rocks. The boat travels empty to reduce fuel costs while divers have the advantage of not having to travel to and from Foster, a 2 hour round journey. The dive sites are very close to the beach so being picked up from this point makes great sense.

When the boat arrives the crew stay off-shore, releasing enough anchor line to bring the boat to within wading depth. Divers float and carry their gear to the boat. Robb assisted us by throwing the mermaid line out and then pulling us toward the boat. Accessing the boat is easy via the stern ladder and there is plenty of room on the boat for all your diving and camera gear.

There are several dive sites in this area, catering for all levels of diving. Some of the well-known sites include two wrecks, the SS Satara at 42 metres and the SS Catterthun at 60 metres. Both of these sites are serious dives and need considerable preparation. Big and Little Seal Rocks, and the Saw Tooth are more accommodating to divers with varying interests. For a great shore dive try Poo Rock just to the right of the beach.

For the Terrigal Under Water Group our interest lay with seeing grey nurse sharks so we chose Little Seal Rocks for our first dive. The large boulders and swim throughs harbour plenty of fish and many grey nurse sharks. Colourful sponges cling to the gutter walls and provide a spectacular backdrop for photography. I followed Nick’s suggestion to look toward the surface. I was rewarded by seeing a large school of king fish coming in and out of the surface rock-wash. They were just a little too far away for a photo.

For me, part of the attraction of this site is the regular north-south current that passes around the rock. As a photographer I can sit in the canyons and stay clear of the current and enjoy the many critters including sharks and black cod that seem to take a rest in the relative calm. When I wish, I can poke my camera into the current and catch the passing pelagics.

On Sunday the topside crew saw several humpback whales travelling this current, apparently right above us, but unfortunately none of us who were below saw them. Our immediate disbelief of this tale was soon squashed when we sighted several more humpbacks cruising near Little Seal Rocks during our surface interval.

The crew offered us several dive sites for our second splash. Without a doubt, we were very pleased to take-up the suggestion of Nick and explore the area known as the Saw Tooth. This site is situated just below and east of the lighthouse cliff face, literally a stones throw from the lighthouse lawn.

I plunged 14 metres straight into a sandy gutter directly below the boat and was immediately greeted by two cruising grey nurse sharks. Although a little photograph shy I did manage to capture a couple of shots.

This site was at first a little tricky to navigate due to the limited visibility. As Nick led us from one rocky gutter to another it soon became apparent that the gutters traversed an almost north-west to south-east direction. Just when I thought I knew where I was going our direction changed toward the west and up over the rock ridges back toward the sandy gutter we had started from.

The great attraction of this site is the mosaic colour on the walls of the rocky canyons. The soft current gently waved the spongy vegetation creating a dizzying kaleidoscope effect which for me was hypnotic. I also noticed several port jackson sharks taking residence in the gutters. One large wobbiegong made its presence known when it barrelled into my right side in an attempt to swim through the same narrow passage I happened to be in.

There are plenty of more dive sites in this region - Paula and I can’t wait to get back there! Hopefully, next time the  visibility will be better.