Great Barrier Reef diving Australia
Osprey Reef: North Horn
There are several ways to dive this site which is located at the northernmost tip of Osprey Reef. It can be done as a drift dive when current is present and a deep dive running down to 40m +. However it is as the site for a famous shark feed, that North Horn is best known, and will be remembered by you long after your Australia diving trip is over.
Often there is an orientation dive before the shark dive. On these, you will be taken down as far as perhaps 30 metres to where a bommie rises covered in soft corals, fans and whips. Many sites around Osprey Reef are known for healthy hard coral coverage so it is nice to see colourful soft corals represented here. Tracey's plaque, affixed to the reef, is in memory of a well-known local dive instructor.
North Horn Wall is practically a dive site in its own right with lots of ledges and gorgonian fans and the bigger pelagics in the blue. Eagle rays and manta rays often cruise around the vicinity and it has been known for divers to spot sailfish at this Great Barrier Reef dive site, although more than a spoonful of luck is required for such a thrilling encounter. Just make sure that your camera batteries are fully charged and that the memory stick has plenty of room.
As you stride in here and begin to make your way down a line, you will be under no illusions as the why this site is used for a shark feed. You will likely see many of the main players before the action has begun.
You and your fellow divers will be seated in a natural coral rubble amphitheatre, where up to all 26 guests can sit in a semi-circle at around 12 metres deep. Between 10 and 15 metres from the viewing area, a drum of fish heads is released. Then the action begins and the sharks come in to feed. White tips, grey reef sharks and silky sharks (grey whalers) jostle for the spoils. Silvertips lurk in the background where even the occasional hammerhead shark can be seen.
You can expect a Potato cod or 2 to be involved in the mix, rubbing shoulders with the sharks and a few dog-toothed tuna. Smaller Great Barrier Reef opportunists are on hand to sweep up the scraps with yellow-tailed fusiliers and red bass living of the smaller chunks dislodged by the sometimes violent feeding frenzy.
This Great Barrier Reef dive is to be conducted under the strict guidelines of the Queensland government. The feed is sealed in a bin and the tender has to be removed before the feed is released, so the sharks do not associate flesh coming off the boat with a feeding frenzy. Only once the bin is gone and the sharks' attention is elsewhere will you be invited to move around.
The Environmental Management fee that you pay contributes to the creation of no take zones and this area is one which, at the time of writing, is under consideration. Without doubt the images of diving in Australia at North Horn will live long in your memory.
North Horn Reef Basics: Shark feed and wall dive
Depth: 5 - >40m
Visibility: 10 - 30m +
Currents: Normally gentle, can be strong
Surface conditions: Can be choppy
Water temperature: 25 - 30°C
Experience level: Advanced
Number of dive sites: 3
Diving season: All year round although weather dependent
Distance: 170 km from Lizard Island, 360 km north of Cairns
Access: Australia liveaboards
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