The Nature Coast Marine Group includes scuba diving among the wide range of activities it has for members. Stable weather conditions in mid-April, with blue skies and calm seas, gave us a great opportunity for a trip to Potato Point’s offshore reefs, as well to Montague Island. Rhys Kenna of Montague Island Diving provided us with his usual high standard of dive services, which was much appreciated.

The diver quickly runs out of superlatives for describing some of Potato Point’s dive sites. The combination of colourful marine life, clear water and white sand makes the reefs there a pleasure to visit. It is every bit as breathtaking as a dive on a tropical reef.

With the anchor in the sand beside the reef we descended into dense schools of damselfish, mado and yellowtail. The fish were so numerous that it was hard to see through the schools. One of the highlights of the area is the beautiful colour of the animals that live fixed to the reef. More so than at other local sites there is an incredible richness of sponge life, and their gentle pastel orange, yellow, red, purple, brown, white and grey colours are beautiful to behold. The effect is enhanced by the stalked sea squirts in green, blue, yellow and mauve that wave back and forth in the surge like so many flowers. On walls and in gullies there are beautiful sea fans, bryozoans and hydroids. In places there are low forests of golden seaweed.

Just about all the fish of the local area seemed to be represented in this small area. Scorpionfish and sea perches waited on the sponges and rocks for their prey to pass, while colourful wrasses and mado darted about. Large wobbegong sharks rested on the bottom, while stingrays glided just above the reef. Sea slugs moved through the dense growth, while a cuttlefish peeped out from under a ledge.

An interesting ecological note was the virtual absence of the voracious black sea urchin, which grazes many local reefs back almost to bare rock. Instead they were replaced by the much more benign slate pencil urchin.

Just south of this magic place the reef took on the more craggy appearance that is typical of the south coast. The black sea urchins were there in profusion, along with a resting group of eight Port Jackson sharks.

From Potato Point, we headed across to Montague Island, where we dived in clear blue water on a stark rocky reef. The highlight was the range of tropical fish such as the moorish idol and the Lord Howe coral fish that are often found there in late summer and autumn. Scientists are conducting research on whether the numbers of tropicals coming to our southern waters are increasing. Such an increase might be another indicator of global warming.