Diving Australia

Osprey Reef: Coral Canyons

Some dive site names offer little in the way of information about the site. The name Coral Canyons on the other hand, tells the story: large and long canyons dividing large coral outcrops.

The channels here are not fine sand but consist mainly of broken corals and rubble mostly lying between 30 and 40m, so you might begin your dive by trailing along the seabed. There are a number of different ways to dive this area which makes it several dive sites in one.

After the first few minutes, your dive will take the shape of passing up over and around various ridges that top out at anything between 20 and 10m. Around these reef-tops look out for red-breasted wrasses, arc-eye hawkfish, and clown triggerfish. If you head in a westerly direction you will ultimately come to the edge of the reef which drops to around 1,400m eventually becoming 3,000m. As you approach the edge you will probably be rising up over a ridge from where you can seemingly see forever. You may see a huge school of jacks near the reef edge, circling around and other large schools of yellow snapper and blacktail snapper.

Sharks are also present too and you are likely to spot several white tips resting on the canyon floors, plus grey reef sharks, particularly at the reef edge. With a gentle current you can cover a huge area here and it is a site that you can and may dive more than one time on your Australia dive trip.

Coral Canyons Reef Basics: Reef dive and channels
Depth: 5 - >40m
Visibility: 30 - 60m
Currents: Normally gentle, can be strong
Surface conditions: Can be choppy
Water temperature: 25 - 30°C
Experience level: Beginner - advanced
Number of dive sites: 3
Diving season: All year round although weather dependent
Distance: 165 km from Lizard Island, 355 km north of Cairns
Access: Australia diving liveaboards

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