Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site
Home · Contact Me · Sydney Reef Dive Sites · Sydney Shipwrecks · NSW Dive Sites · Australian Dive Sites · Overseas Dive Sites · Dive Accidents and Incidents · My Yachting Adventures · 4WD Trips · Weather · Search 12 December 2024 19:24
Navigation
Home

General
About Me
My Diving
FAQ
Downloads
Web Links - Dive Clubs
St George Scuba Club
Some of my Best Photos
Contact Me

Dive Sites
Sydney Reef Dive Sites
Sydney Shipwrecks
Sydney Dive Visibility, Swell and Temps
Kelly Talking on ABC Sydney about Shipwrecks
NSW Dive Sites
Sydney Shipwreck Summary
NSW Shipwreck GPS/Marks
Australian Dive Sites
Overseas Dive Sites
Aircraft I have Dived
Old Bottles
Free Shipwreck Books

Dive Related Equipment
Shearwater Predator and Heinrichs Weikamp OSTC 2N
Uwatec Aladin Dive Computers
Apollo AV1 Underwater Scooter
Bauer Compressor
DIY Oxygen Stick - Nitrox
GoPro HD Hero Video Camera
My Camera Setup
Purchase of New Dive Boat
My Dive Boat - Mak Cat
My Old Dive Boat - Le Scat
My Dive Gear
GPS and Diving
Make Your Own Car Tank Rack

Marine Life
Rarer Sydney Marine Life
Bare Island Pygmy Pipe Horses
Bare Island Sea Horses
Bare Island Nudibranchs
Bare Island Marine Life
Encounter with Southern Right Whale and Calf

Other Dive Info
How Weather Affects Diving in Sydney
Visibility and Wave Averages in Sydney
Waves and Diving
Diving Weather and Sea Conditions
Tide Tables
Dive Accidents and Incidents
Dive Book Reviews
Site Map
Noel Hitchins 1951-2005
Lloyd Bridges - Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt
My Yachting Adventures
Below is a list of links to the main pages about my yacht, Catlypso and My Yachting Adventures:
  • Purchase of Catlypso
  • Details about Catlypso
  • Cleaning/Repairing Catlypso
  • My Yachting Adventures.
  • Login
    Username

    Password



    Forgotten your password?
    Request a new one here.
    Michael's 4WD Trips
    Click here for a list of my Four Wheel Drive and Camping Trips.
    Home Brewing
    Click here for an article about Home Brewing.
    Sydney Dive Site Hints
    "Grey nurse sharks can be seen at Magic Point"
    The Pinnacles (The Twins) - Bangally Head
    Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving - The Pinnacles Over Easter 1997 I travelled over to the northern side of Sydney and stayed at a house in Sydney's beautiful Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. The group was part of St George Scuba Club and we decided to dive the reefs off the Northern Beaches rather than the normal wrecks we do when we stay at this house.

    Despite having completed almost 800 dives in Sydney (at the time I wrote this article), I have only done a couple of dozen north of Sydney Harbour and of these, only four or five have been on reefs. We decided on this trip to concentrate on reef dives, especially as a couple of the divers with us were not really interested in diving deep (as all but two of the wrecks are over 40 metres deep).

    The third dive we did on this trip was at a location off Bangally Head which is located to the south of Whale Beach. On Easter Sunday the seas were absolutely flat, millpond, so we made the decision to dive this site as a drift dive. We entered the water to the north-west of the point (GPS Marks of 33° 37' 32S 151° 20' 34"E using datum AUS66 - read my GPS Page about datums) and dived towards the south-east.

    This site consists of two pinnacles, one of which just breaks the surface. Hence its alternate name, The Twins (given by Jim Foyel of Scuba Shack Charters).

    The depth was not great, no more than 18 metres at any point on the dive. At the start the reef was slightly sloping, with a few small boulders on the reef and a couple of bigger boulders on the sand. In this area we found a number of sea dragons and the sponges on the rock were quite good.

    As we proceeded along we saw a lot of fishlife, including bream, trevally, seapike and yellowtail. As we approached the very end of the point, the terrain changed quite spectacularly. Instead of the bigger boulders, there were a large number of huge boulders (The Pinnacles) that reached right up to about five metres. The fishlife amongst the giant rocks was amazing, with enormous quantities of silver sweep, seapike, big eyes, yellowtail, red morwong and other fish that swayed in the slight surge. There were a lot of excellent swim-throughs and small caves as well and outside a couple of them were wobbegongs.

    We weaved in and out of the swim-throughs and in between the boulders. This was a great dive, with good visibility making the dive even betters. We spent a considerable amount of time in this area and we only finished the dive because we could see the winds had come up on the water's surface and it would be a long, slow trip back if we stayed down longer. It was with great reluctance that we ascended after 60 minutes.

    You can dive this with Scuba Shack Charters, Google them.

    Copyright © Michael McFadyen 1990 to 2024
    Non-commercial use of an article or photograph is permitted with appropriate URL reference to this site.
    Dive shops, dive operators, publications and government departments cannot use anything without first seeking and receiving approval from Michael McFadyen.
    This web site has been wholly thought up, designed, constructed and funded for almost 30 years by Michael McFadyen without any help from the Australian Dive Industry.
    Website created 1996!