Previous
Fairy Bower
Average Rating : 3.00 out of 5
Summary | Reviews (1)
Reef
Novice
8 m
8 m
None
Shore
Sharks,Port Jacksons, Estuary eels, Giant sea snails,Cuttlefish,Wobbegong sharks, Squid.
Consensus Ratings
G
Description:
The promise of this Shelly Beach dive is spotting dusky whalers if it's the right time. It's in the suburb of Fairy Bower lies south of Manly where you'll head past the wharf to get to the site. Second street left is Victoria, first right, Darley Street) and the road leads straight up to Manly Hospital. A bit away from the bottom of the steer on your left is Cliff Street at the end is Bower. Take a right into it and head down till you see Bower lane. Once you are in the water - head out north east until you reach the reef which you can follow for ten minutes until you turn around. There are sharks around always a meter or two away from the floor. If you follow the reef to where you began ands head over the slope along its western side you'll see plenty of rocks and tunnels in the wall to explore. Further along is a 3m long concrete sewer pipe and a motorcycle! The reef keeps heading out south to Manly beach but your turn around mark is 45 m.Submitted by: admin on 2008-08-22 | Last Modified: 2009-04-29 | Views: 177 | Dive Site ID: 59561
1 Review Written
| Ratings | |
|---|---|
| Safety Rating(s) | G |
| Visibility | |
| Accessibility | |
| Marine Life | |
| Fun Factor | |
Reviewed by: diego on 2010-08-29
A Long Winter Dive
Fairy Bower is one of my favourite dive sites for its ease of access, protected waters, shallow depth and abundance of marine life... though it also attracts so many swimmers, snorkellers and other divers! I learned about this site before I took my scuba lessons, when I swam over it during oceanswim races from Manly beach to Shelley beach and back to Manly beach. During those swims I often saw fish and scuba divers, and I wished I would be one of those divers one day. That was a couple of years ago. I finally got the diving license and soon I started diving here. I have dived this spot more frequently than any other spot.
This time the dive was a little different. It was a beautiful winter day, and for a change there were virtually no other divers. So the place was (almost) entirely for Richard, Rob and I. We entered the water at 9:00 am, and soon Rob and I felt the cold water rising through our legs. Richard, with little empathy for us (he was wearing a dry suit), quickly entered the water and started snorkelling. Just as he started he pointed us to a small squid. The squid didn't seem to pay attention to us, and Richard and Rob started triggering their cameras. Soon a small wrasse joined us and started showing interest to the squid. After a couple of circles around it, it got closer, and tentatively tasted it once, two, three times. The squid didn't do much to escape, but luckily for the squid the wrasse gave up, perhaps there were too many spectators watching the show?
The dive continued. The water was colder than I expected, my computer registered a temperature of 15 celsius degrees. Visibility was average for this site, about 8 metres, somewhat disappointingly for a winter's dive and I've been told that winter dives have such great visibility... alas! not this time. Early in the dive we saw a giant cuttlefish who swam across just in front of us, totally ignoring us, and then it started circling us until it disappeared. Later we saw another giant cuttlefish, this time trying to blend in colour and shape with the rocks of the reef. Several wobbegongs were doing their usual stuff, that is, resting on the rocks and doing nothing.
Soon I saw Richard paying attention to a spot in a rock, and there I discoverd a small nudibranch (ask him if you want to know its name!).
We entered deeper water (by deeper I meant down to a whooping 6 metres), and colder. At some point the thermometer registered 14.5 degrees, and I started to feel really cold. We reached a section with sea grass and sponges and we were surrounded by a large schoold of yellowtail scats. A stingaree was lying on the grass. With the cold I started to feel the urge to clear my bladder, and I wished we would go back to shore. At that point the buddies turned back, what a relief.
On the way back I saw a port jackson swimming past, followed by scats who seemed to be mobbing it...? Just last weekend I saw a documentary about this type of behaviour... some fish who were normally prey of sharks, sometimes would tail them and scratch their skin on a shark skin to clean themselves from parasites.
On the way back we also saw a pair of flutemouths, above us, near the surface.
My urge to go to the loo increased, but the water was so cold and my wetsuit was so tight that there was no way I could do it in the water... in a sense it was a relief, I didn't need to hold it, simply nothing came out.
I encountered some familiar rock fishes, who hadn't moved an inch from their original position during the first stages of our dive, and Rob told me later that he saw the squid again as he was about to leave the water.
In total the dive lasted 83 minutes... this was my longest and coldest dive! I still had plenty of air left but the only thing I wanted to do was go to the gents, and then bask in the sun, sipping a cappuccino and then a cup of hot chocolate.
As we were relaxing we saw the usual hordes of scubadivers from the local dive shops, it seems that in winter they come later.
This time the dive was a little different. It was a beautiful winter day, and for a change there were virtually no other divers. So the place was (almost) entirely for Richard, Rob and I. We entered the water at 9:00 am, and soon Rob and I felt the cold water rising through our legs. Richard, with little empathy for us (he was wearing a dry suit), quickly entered the water and started snorkelling. Just as he started he pointed us to a small squid. The squid didn't seem to pay attention to us, and Richard and Rob started triggering their cameras. Soon a small wrasse joined us and started showing interest to the squid. After a couple of circles around it, it got closer, and tentatively tasted it once, two, three times. The squid didn't do much to escape, but luckily for the squid the wrasse gave up, perhaps there were too many spectators watching the show?
The dive continued. The water was colder than I expected, my computer registered a temperature of 15 celsius degrees. Visibility was average for this site, about 8 metres, somewhat disappointingly for a winter's dive and I've been told that winter dives have such great visibility... alas! not this time. Early in the dive we saw a giant cuttlefish who swam across just in front of us, totally ignoring us, and then it started circling us until it disappeared. Later we saw another giant cuttlefish, this time trying to blend in colour and shape with the rocks of the reef. Several wobbegongs were doing their usual stuff, that is, resting on the rocks and doing nothing.
Soon I saw Richard paying attention to a spot in a rock, and there I discoverd a small nudibranch (ask him if you want to know its name!).
We entered deeper water (by deeper I meant down to a whooping 6 metres), and colder. At some point the thermometer registered 14.5 degrees, and I started to feel really cold. We reached a section with sea grass and sponges and we were surrounded by a large schoold of yellowtail scats. A stingaree was lying on the grass. With the cold I started to feel the urge to clear my bladder, and I wished we would go back to shore. At that point the buddies turned back, what a relief.
On the way back I saw a port jackson swimming past, followed by scats who seemed to be mobbing it...? Just last weekend I saw a documentary about this type of behaviour... some fish who were normally prey of sharks, sometimes would tail them and scratch their skin on a shark skin to clean themselves from parasites.
On the way back we also saw a pair of flutemouths, above us, near the surface.
My urge to go to the loo increased, but the water was so cold and my wetsuit was so tight that there was no way I could do it in the water... in a sense it was a relief, I didn't need to hold it, simply nothing came out.
I encountered some familiar rock fishes, who hadn't moved an inch from their original position during the first stages of our dive, and Rob told me later that he saw the squid again as he was about to leave the water.
In total the dive lasted 83 minutes... this was my longest and coldest dive! I still had plenty of air left but the only thing I wanted to do was go to the gents, and then bask in the sun, sipping a cappuccino and then a cup of hot chocolate.
As we were relaxing we saw the usual hordes of scubadivers from the local dive shops, it seems that in winter they come later.
Added: 2010-08-29
RSS Feeds
