Wolf Rock, is a protected habitat for endangered grey nurse sharks. We dive with Cheryl and Kevin of Wolf Rock Dive, the only dive operator licensed to dive the rock.
It's just a couple of rocky bumps that the swells wash over off Rainbow Beach. Once in the water we are surrounded by a school of batfish. This is fish city with the benefits of total protection for more than a kilometre all around, obvious.
Schools of baitfish hang around, scattering as the kingfish and trevally race through. We glide down passing a hawksbill turtle nestling in a cave. Visibility drops as we round the seaward side of the rock and drop below 20m.
Then, like a curtain being opened, the visibility improves to over 20m and a shark appears. It’s big, more than 3m and definitely a grey nurse. Just below it over the sand is a sight we will never forget. Another 20 grey nurse sharks, either hover or cruise slowly around the sand gutter.
We stop and watch from near the rock wall as the sharks continue to hover or move slowly around. Several make close passes and glide overhead, their impressive array of teeth obvious as they cruise by. Some have a coppery sheen to their skin while others are a dark grey.
Thousands of other fish almost block out the sun but it’s easy to ignore them when there are grey nurse sharks around. Time is up and we drift up through the fish schools away from the sharks.
It isn’t just nitrogen that has us bubbling as we surface. Somehow the waves that roll around the rock don’t matter as we have a bite to eat and a drink and get ready for the next dive in this special place.
