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Published: July 19th 2012
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There is diving...there is good diving...there is even great diving...and then, there is hidden jewel diving! Welcome to Fish Rock dive site, few miles away from South West Rock, welcome to "the" hidden jewel diving...in cold water...and pretty average visibility!
I was not going to give you this blog right after two diving blogs on PNG...this place need patience...because here you cannot dive everyday...and because getting here...is a long and sometimes pretty boring drive from either Brisbane or Sydney!
I was supposed to dive with South West Rock Dive Center...but once I got there, the place was close...and no idea how to find them...even in this small place...so I went to the local pub...the waiter was working for Fish Rock Dive Center...so he hook me up for diving the next day...and a place to stay. Now you want to laugh...same pub...my waitress the next day was actually a DM for South West Rock Dive Center....kind of funny! For info....these are the two only diving operations here...this is it!
As anything lately in Australia...nothing is cheap anymore here, so we won't speak about the cost...even if the diving in itself is actually not
that expensive...but hey, a Coke bottle of 600ml in a supermarket is just 5 times the price of the same item in Bangkok...actually, even more than 5 times!!!
Nobody speak of this place...ever...and anywhere. I have to thank a french blogger on travelblog, Elvina, for pointing me to this place. This girl has simply dived all the best sites in the world....impressive and amazing! Even if you don't speak french, the pics speak for themselves!
The bad news...in winter....as we are in the south emisphere...diving here is far away from being garanteed everyday...the good news...out of two days, we could at least dive the first day. These two dives were amazing....at the end, I just had 200 pics in 2 dives! let's put it very simply....2 dives here were far better than 15 dives...put together...on a liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef! End of discussion, this place rock....as Fish Rock!!!
Jon is here in charge of the operations....and he does a brillant job. When I asked him...ok, what is the best dive site in Austalia....his answer was...seems to be Yongala (haven't dived it yet)....and us second...my answer...Yongala is artificial, as it
is a wreck....so put it simply, you must be number 1 "natural" dive site in Australia! My next question was...why nobody knows about this place....Jon answer...advertising is way too expensive here for just two operators...my guess...this place is way too much out of the place, and most people can't stand a water at 20 degree celsius....was 10 less than in PNG...but packed with action!
Next step...the diving....
How do you take a picture of a carpet....good question...than on...how do you take a good picture of a carpet...in bad visibility...and no...I didn't drink writing this....and I go on...it's not a carpet, it's a carpet shark...easy to say, his name is way more weird...I name...well actually I didn't name it...they named him....the Wobbegong Shark....aka the carpet shark...
Now I did ask on the boat....what is the result of the cross-breeding of a wobbegong and a wallaby...well...shall we make it short...a local Australian! A wallaby, aka a kangaroo is pretty intriguing....a wobbegong is actually even more at first sight...the wobbegong doesn't bite much...but as he stays pretty well invisible due to his camouflage...landing on him is maybe not the best of ideas...
So in 2 dives....we saw...at least 20 wobbegong sharks on each dive...at least 20 grey nurse sharks on each dive...3 bull rays...minimum 10 eagle rays....a huge loggerhead turtle, an hawksbill turtle, tens of nudibranches, tens of lobsters, an octopus, few scorpion fishes, a lion fish...and millions of little fishes...not sure I'm missing anything on the list. While on the boat, we also saw few whales, but I got too lazy to take my camera out. You read it....all this...in a single day!
I had a funny encounter with a nurse shark. These guys are a good 4 meters long...so not that easy to get a great full scale picture as the visibility was around 15 meters. At one stage, I got something hitting me on the back...I turn around, no diver....the other divers were laughing....a nurse shark had a little touch at my back...than at my fins...and it seems I basically kicked him with one of my fins...funny...and...I didn't even see it happened!!
What was really impressive was that at the end of the first dive...while the dive was already amazing...we bump in a huge bunch of nudibranches...it was like the cherry on
the cake!
Between dives, Jon make sure everybody stay warm....water temperature...20 celsius degrees....outside windy temperature...maybe 18! So we had the soups...the cakes, the canddies...and even more fun...pouring hot water inside your wetsuit....another fun experience!
Than on the second dive, we dived the famous cave. It's pitch black for a good 60 meters...and that's few minutes diving. You need to be a little careful down there...small passage at one stage...and the wobbegong is sleeping peacefully right in our way...so you simply glide few centimeters above this "cute carpet"...than you've got also the encounter with the bull ray....big...way more dangerous if you ever get in touch with his dart...but good news, the bull ray was actually hiding from us. There is also the tens of lobsters...would have been a nice BBQ!
So we had the sharks...we had the whales...but sadly, on the second day...sun was out and the wind too! The waves were way too big for the boat...so I went to the lighthouse...and saw the wallabies grazing around....welcome to Australia!
South West Rock was a small stop between PNG and going to pick up Leslie and Tiffany in Saigon....after
a small stop at the office in Hong Kong....and I'm writing this another continent away...
No more diving for nearly 2 months....next one should be only for Leslie and I as this is a little too challenging for Tiffany....but we should be able to produce some pretty fun underwater pictures....adventures...they are coming...blogs...few more too....
Oh, and a last funny comment...it was cute to hear the first question of a young divemaster....have you ever see a shark? My answer was...where?
Happy diving!
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Zoe
non-member comment
Fish Rock
Bula! I have dived Fish Rock too - it is one of my absolute favourite dives ever. And, as you know, I have Rainbow Reef and the Great White Wall right on my doorstep! I spent a lot of time in NSW when I was doing my Instructor's course and was lucky enough to dive Fish Rock a couple of times - I always recommend it to people because no-one has ever heard of it! Glad you enjoyed it so much. Best wishes to you all - come back and see us in Fiji sometime!! Zoe