Grey Nurse Sharks - South East Australia

[Azza]

either the eagle eye or the magic brownies???

not that i would ever condone such irresponsible diving!!!!!

LOL> Now that I know about the magic brownies in Byron I avoid all biscuts that don't come sealed.
But it's true...I do have the eagle eye. We were told that we would miss out on so much if we didn't dive with a guide so did the first dive with him but seen way more on our last 3 dives. We had other divers wanting to come diving with myself and the little woman. I guess when you have the eagle eye you have the eagle eye...no matter who's territory. (where's the hot stuff smilie?)

 

[Mel.B]

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies. Mel - Narooma looks like a good start. (Well, it's at least 6hrs south from my initial point at Seal Rock, so it's a brilliant start). Can you comment on Montague Island any more. Looks like it has a lot more to offer than just sharks. Were there many seals?

Thanks

Adam.

Hi Adam,

Montague Island is fantastic. I've never had less than 20m viz there for a start With seals, I have only seen a small colony there - maybe half a dozen, but I've only done about 10 dives there in total over two seperate trips. In summer you get a lot of the tropical fish that come down on the current...what's that current in Finding Nemo? The ESA or something?? Anyway, that means you will see Lion fish, butterfly fish, etc etc. There are also lots of friendly blue gropers who want a feed of urchins. Plus Montague is home to the 'montague one-spot damsel' and there are literally thousands of these! We've also seen a resident turtle and on our last trip there was a manta ray (which no one believed until the video footage was produced!). I find there is not a lot of life on the rocks (kelp etc) so to me it's a bit like diving in a rocky desert after Melbourne diving, but the fish life more than makes up for it. Diving is also multi-level so you can get a nice long dive - drop straight down to about 30m (it bottoms out b/ 30 - 40m) to try and see the sharks and then make your way back up the side of the island for the rest of your dive (it's not really a wall as such, just gently sloping). There are a number of dive sites around the island, so as long as the weather is ok for crossing Narooma Bar (which can be very dangerous) you can pretty much get in the water. Also if you are after a shore dive, you can't go past Narooma jetty where the boat leaves from. We did this as a night dive and it was spectacular - nudibranchs, moray eels, stone fish, octopus...I could go on and all in about 3m of water! This needs to be done on slack water though. In case you can't tell I love Narooma and will be back there again in Jan!

mel.b

 

[adza]

sharks love seals and thats what Montague is also known for.. not as many seals as in the old days but still plenty to play with

Hmm - what do you make of the following?

All are male and this is a non-breeding colony, hence the island has no shark problem because sharks tend to only feed on small pups that haven't yet learnt to swim properly.

(Extract from http://naroomacharters.com.au/diving.htm)

I'm just trying to plan a nice small trip sometime in the newyear when things slow down. I'd like to see some Grey Nurse, but this place looks promising. My wife's not interested in Sharks, but would love the seals. I might be able to tempt her to come along with me.

Thanks

Adza

 

[adza]

Hi Mel,

Thanks for your reply...

Montague Island is fantastic. I've never had less than 20m viz there for a start With seals, I have only seen a small colony there - maybe half a dozen, but I've only done about 10 dives there in total over two seperate trips.

Does sound promissing indeed. However, a bit dissapointed about the number of seals. The site mentioned above in my previous posting is boasting about a lot more than 6 seals.

In summer you get a lot of the tropical fish that come down on the current...what's that current in Finding Nemo? The ESA or something??

EAC... Eastern Australian Current. (Yup - I bought the movie. Absolutely loved it! )

Anyway, that means you will see Lion fish, butterfly fish, etc etc. There are also lots of friendly blue gropers who want a feed of urchins. Plus Montague is home to the 'montague one-spot damsel' and there are literally thousands of these! We've also seen a resident turtle and on our last trip there was a manta ray (which no one believed until the video footage was produced!). I find there is not a lot of life on the rocks (kelp etc) so to me it's a bit like diving in a rocky desert after Melbourne diving, but the fish life more than makes up for it. Diving is also multi-level so you can get a nice long dive - drop straight down to about 30m (it bottoms out b/ 30 - 40m) to try and see the sharks and then make your way back up the side of the island for the rest of your dive (it's not really a wall as such, just gently sloping). There are a number of dive sites around the island, so as long as the weather is ok for crossing Narooma Bar (which can be very dangerous) you can pretty much get in the water. Also if you are after a shore dive, you can't go past Narooma jetty where the boat leaves from. We did this as a night dive and it was spectacular - nudibranchs, moray eels, stone fish, octopus...I could go on and all in about 3m of water! This needs to be done on slack water though. In case you can't tell I love Narooma and will be back there again in Jan!

mel.b

Gee - sounds like their's plenty to see. Although, by your response, it sounds like the possibility of seeing a Grey Nurse is more of a possibility rather than a likely. (If anyone would like to comment :14

As for everything else, it looks like I'm really going to have to take this place seriously for an option between January and March!

Thanks for the info!

Cheers

Adza

 

[almitywife]

i would agree - ive never heard of them having a shark problem

what i meant to hightlight was that montague had seals... sorry, too early in the morn for me to articulate

 

[adza]

i would agree - ive never heard of them having a shark problem

what i meant to hightlight was that montague had seals... sorry, too early in the morn for me to articulate

Ahh - I see. Sorry, didn't quote understand the first time. So there are plenty of seals left there. (I'm trying to find the validity of the accuracy in number that the website referrs to when it says 200 to 300 seals during summer.

Ta

Adza

 

[Mel.B]

Hi Adza,

If you go at the right time of the year and the right dive spot (the ballroom) then you are pretty much gaurneteed to see them. On our first trip, we did six dives in and around the ballroom and saw sharks (up to 5) on each dive. The first dive they were furtherest away and on the last they were swimming right past us. On the second trip we did two dives in the vacinity of the ballroom and again saw sharks on both dives. The other two dives were at different spots around the island (one with the seals) and we didn't see GNS.

With regards to the seals, I have only dived on one side of the island and there were only a few (although thinking back to my first trip we didn't dive with them but saw maybe 30ish on the rocks), but there may be more around the other side of the island. The best people to ask would be one of the charter operators down there - they would be able to tell you how many you can expect to see.

HTH
mel.b

 

[adza]

Thanks Mel for the info. You've been a great help! I see you're going back in Jan. Is this the same time of the year you went last time?

Cheers

Adza

 

[Mel.B]

No worries...glad to be of assistance

This year we went in March, last year in Jan. We alternate between the Australia day long weekend and labour day long weekend.

Mel

 

[danielt]

byron bay is famous for them