| Site Type: | Minor wrecks and Reef |
| Depth: | Top: 5M Median: 10M Bottom: 11M |
| Location: | Cabbage Tree Island is located about 3km outside Port Stephens, to the North of the entrance. It’s a 20 minute boat ride from the Nelson Bay marina |
This dive covered quite a variety of terrain. There are three very difference wrecks: a speed boat, a modern motor cruiser and an old barge.
The motor cruiser is quite novel and you can go inside, through the galley and out the front ‘window’.
Amongst its new owners are a Crimson Banded Wrasse and an Eastern Smooth Boxfish.
Eastern Smooth Boxfish inside the motor cruiser..
The Crimson Banded Wrasse.
The wreck of the barge doesn’t look much at first, but get down low and have a look around the bottom and under it. This wobbe got treated to a marine rendition of Van Gogh’s Starry Night when my light picked out the bullseye hanging above him.
The route back goes along the boulder line of the island where it meets the sand and so you’ll find lots of leather jackets, morwong, goatfish and wrasse etc, in reasonably clear water and in good light.
A place where you might find a chilled Female Six Spine Leatherjacket.
And _NOT_ some chilled!
It seems whenever I find a Crested Morwong, they are always chilled. I’ve yet to catch one with her ‘hair up’.
