Fifeshire Reef
There are a few much maligned (by some), but really nice shallow reef dives around Terrigal. Fifeshire Reef fits within this category and I am not entirely sure why this site is not dived more often. It is not far from the boat ramp and close to shore, making it accessible for diving when sites further away or offshore may not be. There is plenty of fish as well as critters to see.
Fifeshire Reef is kelp covered on top and approx 14m deep. From this it drops off in steps down to 19m. To the North of the anchoring point the reef wall gets quite sheer but to the South it is a series of steps down to the sand line. Close to the sand line there are fallen boulders that create nooks and crannies for critters to hide in. There is a large cutout at the base of the Northern wall that often harbours fish.
The reef is well covered in fixed growth, including numerous types of Sponges, Ascidians, Hydroids, Sea Tulips and Bryozoa. The highlight of this site are the numerous large Gorgonian fans. Look closely and you may even find the Allied Cowries that can be found within them.
The fish at the site include:
- Blue Grouper
- Maori wrasse
- Black Reef Leatherjacket
- Yellow Stripe Leatherjacket
- Yellowfin Pike
- Old Wife
- Eastern Hulafish
- Half Banded Seaperch
- Black Banded Seaperch
- Red Mowing
- Sweep
- Roughy
- Black Tipped Bulleyes
Given the amount of fixed growth, it is little surprise that many Nudibranch species can be found, including:
- Hypselodoris bennetti (Bennett's Hypselodoris)
- Glossodoris atromarginata (Black Margined Glossodoris)
- Chromodoris splendida (Splendid Chromodoris)
- Chromodoris loringi (Loring's Chromodoris)
- Ceratosoma amoenum (Sweet Ceratosoma)
- Pteraeolidia ianthina (Blue Serpent)
- Neodoris chrysoderma (Chrysanthemum Neodoris)
To dive the site you simply dive up and down the reef edge which is well defined. Seek to anchor at the edge of the reef to make navigation easy. The GPS Mark for the site is S33º27.577' E151º26.873' (WGS84 hdddºmm.mmm').