Perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea, but for an underwater photographer looking at micro photography, this is one of the best sites on the east coast. Some may consider it a boring dive if you’re not interested in small critters like nudibranchs and shrimps, however, when the visibility is good on this site it is totally awesome.
Location
There is no mooring at this site, although plenty of fishing pot markers are visible, but not a 100 per cent reliable indicator, so a GPS is essential in locating the exact spot to drop the anchor (N25°25.128 E56°22.606). Previously, we used to line up some landmarks in order to find the location, but when it is hazy on the surface this method is not practical.
The vehicle wreckage, which sunk here in the late 80s as an artificial reef, barely resembles the original shapes of vehicles. Although you can make out wheels and the odd chassis, there is such a lot of growth and debris around, including old fishing nets and line that could be an entanglement hazard.
It is advisable to make sure you and your buddy are carrying some tools such as knife or line cutter to free any possible entanglement.
Try to establish your buoyancy about one meter from the bottom in a nice horizontal position and refrain from vigorous fin movements. The visibility at this site can drop dramatically when divers fail to observe this posture underwater.
Marine Life
Once you have descended the anchor line, take note of its position and if visibility is very poor it might be worth running a line from a spool attached to some object near the anchor. If you attach the line to the anchor, be aware that if the boatman suddenly decides to pull the anchor up for any reason you may have to abandon the line or go with it!
Bring a torch, there are a lot of dark hiding places around with some very nice colourful surprises – in particular nudibranchs, my favourite subject. And you might also find an elusive pinecone fish (Monocentris japonicus), sometimes mistakenly called a pineapplefish.
There are a variety of shrimps and lots of small gobies and blennies, as well as a couple of very large honeycomb moray eels. If you do decide to kneel on the sandy bottom, be very careful not only of the scorpionfish, but also the electric rays. I have spotted some very large ones at this site, and you could be in for a nasty shock – literally!
If you do strike it lucky with good visibility, you will notice a shoal of snapper that exists in the area as well as dozens of circling barracuda. They’re small ones though, so nothing to fear. As I mentioned before, maintain your buoyancy at least a meter above the bottom, maintain a horizontal position and frog kick to avoid silting up the area and reducing visibility.
If you cannot locate the anchor line at the end of the dive, shoot your surface marker buoy (SMB) and ascend using it. The boatman should be able to locate you easily and possibly be close by the time you have completed your safety stop and surfaced.
Access: Boat
Experience Level: Novice to experienced diver
Max Depth: 16m
Dive Profile: Square profile dive
Hazards: Sharp debris, fishing net or line, sea urchins, occasional electric ray, poor visibility and, sometimes, strong currents can make this a challenging site to navigate.
Other Notes: If diving with Nitrox you can easily achieve a nice, long relaxed dive at this site. No decompression limit (NDL) on air is 72 min; NDL on EAN32 is 130 min, provided of course your surface air consumption (SAC) rate is good enough.
Gordon T. Smith
Editor’s Note: No maps are are available for this site because it is on a flat bottom.
