Dive Australia

Osprey Reef: False Entrance

False Entrance earns its name from appearing like the safe, navigable entrance to the lagoon, which in fact lies a few kms to the north. In current this can be a great drift dive and in slack water conditions, a normal reef dive with multiple bommies for investigation.

As you descend down through the water column you can start your dive at a reef edge that drops to a wall to a depth of around 30m. On this wall you can see a lot of gorgonian fans and sea whips. There are a number of sessile life forms reaching out into the channel to capture passing nutrients so their display is wide and the colours are impressive. It is worth checking out the blue for passing manta rays or eagle rays as well as white tips and grey reef sharks.

On this Australia dive site there is normally excellent visibility, which makes the sight of the drop over the edge of the reef into the abyss all the more eerie. You will proceed up and around the bommies where there are plenty of sights to look out for. After a few minutes on each bommie there are little blue water swim-throughs to the next one.

You may spot scorpionfish, stonefish, banded pipefish, as well as arc-eye hawkfish standing on the hard corals. The bommies themselves are bedecked in hard and soft corals as well as coralline algae and funnelweed, giving this Australian diving seascape the look of a rainforest floor. Also look out for sailors eyeballs, sea squirts and feather stars, all adding to the colour and diversity of the scene.

When the currents are really running you can be dropped at a distance to one end of this reef system and drift dive through the whole area, stopping for moments of calm in the natural shelter afforded by the bommies. In these conditions look out for larger fish in the current such as barracuda and trevally.

False Entrance Reef Basics: Deep and drift dive
Depth: 6 - >40m
Visibility: 10 - 30m
Currents: Normally moderate, can be strong
Surface conditions: Can be choppy
Water temperature: 25 - 30°C
Experience level: Beginner - advanced
Number of dive sites: 2
Diving season: All year round although weather dependent
Distance: 165 km from Lizard Island, 355 km north of Cairns
Access: Dive Australia liveaboards

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