Bundaberg
- Dive Queensland
Members listed below
The Great
Barrier Reef's southern tail is an island idyll,
where lagoons and coral cays make diving and
snorkelling as simple as a walk to the
shoreline.
The picture
book Coral Coast, east of Bundaberg, enjoys
crystalline blue skies, warm clear waters, and
amazing dive diversity, offering easily
accessible shore diving in the spectacular
Woongarra Marine Park.
Lady Elliot
Island could be described as the final jewel in
the Great Barrier Reef's crown. The Lady graces
the reef's southernmost tip and is blessed with
mating turtles (late spring/early summer), manta
ray, leopard sharks (summer), sea snakes and the
occasional sojourn by whales and dolphins
(winter).
From the air, the island sits as an emerald
green centre amidst a ring of shallow turquoise
reef. Almost every area around the island is a
diving and snorkelling Mecca - be it the
unnerving Shark Pools, the Manta Rays at
Lighthouse Bommies or the schooling reef fish of
Anchor Bommie.
Lady
Musgrave Island, to the north, displays similar
topography and marine life. You can visit on a
day tour or set up camp. Dive sites range from a
large shallow lagoon (home to sharks, rays and
moray eel) to spectacular coral canyons where
the big fish (batfish and yellowtail kingfish)
school.
The big draw
card of this area is the marine turtle and every
late spring and summer; these coral coast
inhabitants turn their minds to mating.
A mainland rookery at Mon Repos is home to the
largest concentration of nesting marine turtles
in eastern Australia and every evening from
November through March, visitors can witness
these endangered marine reptiles nesting and
hatching.
