With 44 years of diving experience in Gold Coast waters, Ian Banks of Diving The Gold Coast is most qualified to share his knowledge of Gold Coast dive sites. He provides a peek into the underwater world through his photos and some important information on the value of the marine life.
Popular dive sites in Gold Coast waters feature the fish life. The Seaway itself has a full range of fish life, while beach-start shore dives are particularly good for rays, such as the eagle rays.
February to April for summer conditions and May to August for winter conditions. Often visibility is better in the winter months and some of the spawning activities are greatest at this time. The average temperature range is a very comfortable 18-27 °C. Summer months are my favourite for the variety of fish activity and the warm water.
The Gold Coast has a mixture of conditions affecting diving. Wind direction is the primary governing factor of when and where to dive.
Basically, SE winds produce the best visibility (up to 20 metres), while NE winds reduce the visibility (less than 10 metres). Westerlies produce the flattest seas along most of the coast except the southern reefs. Here the southerlies flatten the sea, and provide the best conditions for Kirra reef.
With the Gold Coast Seaway being an estuary, the main conditions dictating the diving are current and visibility. Where you choose to dive will depend largely on the time of the tide, what marine life you want to see, what level diver you are, and whether or not you have boat access. Understanding the wind and wave conditions, as well as the tide times, are necessary, so it is very important to utilize local knowledge of when and where to dive.
My personal favourite is the Gold Coast Seaway because of ease of access and being able to see the huge number of fish species, large schools of fish, as well as turtles on a daily basis. The Gold Coast Seaway in my opinion, would be the best dive site in any Australian city. It is in close proximity to a large urban centre, and yet has high fish numbers and a diverse range of fish species. Many divers would normally travel many thousands of miles, to remote areas, to access this type of species diversity.
