The beautiful Whitsundays
The Whitsunday Islands are well known for their great scuba diving locations. The islands are located between Townsville and Mackay off the coast of Airlie Beach. The Whitsunday group has 29 islands of which Whitsunday Island is the largest one. One of the most popular islands is Hamilton Island.
For many years people from around the globe have traveled to the area to witness the stunning coral gardens, swim with the turtles and more recently, trying to find Nemo. The following is a list of some of the better Whitsunday diving and snorkel locations.
- Whitehaven Beach
Hook Island
Hook Island is almost uninhabited and quite rugged. On the southern side of the island you can find the Nara and Macona inlets, two fjord-like inlets that are used as anchor spots. Off the coast of the northern side of the island are beautiful coloured coral gardens to be found which are very popular with scuba divers and snorkelers.
The Pinnacles
On the northern side of Hook Island is Pinnacle Bay. Pinnacle Bay has a few dive sites which are considered to be one of the best dive sites of the Whitsundays. There are heaps of beautiful great hard corals to be found. Giant maori wrasse, parrot fish, lionfish, nudibranchs, flatworms, butterflyfish and many more species are living on the reefs around the island and in the bay. The majestic manta rays are common between May and October. The divesites in Pinnacle bay slope from 5 meter deep down to around 21 meters deep. The bommies will rise up to three meters below the surface and that's why this dive spot is also very nice for snorkelers. During strong south east winds it can be a bit uncomfortable to anchor in Pinnacle Bay.
The wood pile
This dive site is not really suitable for snorkelers, because of the drop off. This wall is covered with corals and drops to around 30 meters deep. The fish and corals you'll find here is similar to what you'll see at the Pinnacles like lionfish, clownfish, sea stars, nudibranchs, butterflyfish and batfish. Black tip and white tip reef sharks are also inhabitants of the reefs around this dive site. The wood pile dive sites is located opposite end of Pinnacle Bay.
Hayman Island
Hayman Island is the most northern Island of the Cumberland Island group. The Cumberland Islands are a part of the Whitsundays. The island has a very luxurious resort which was built in the 1950s. Hayman Island is only 3 km wide and 4 km long and is 400 ha small.
Dolphin Point
On the northern part of Hayman Island you'll find Dolphin Point. This dive site offers a great diversity of reef fish and invertebrates. You are likely to come across a few travelly, clownfish and mackerels. Also the occasional hammer head shark can show up on the reefs. The reefs have heaps of hard and soft corals like black coral and gorgonians. At Dolphin Point you can dive to around 18 meters deep and you'll find a lot of rocks and bommies on the bottom. and you may also come across the occasional hammerhead shark.
