SSI - Your Choice for Certification

SS Yongala Wreck - The boat is now an artificial reef with amazing marine life that are supersized compared to seeing them on the Great Barrier Reef. You cannot penetrate or touch the wreck as it is a grave site but this doesn’t take away from this amazing dive. Can have very strong currents.

The HMAS Brisbane was scuttled in July 2005 to create an artificial reef off Mooloolaba’s Sunshine Coast. The Queensland government created a Conservation Park around the wreck. This wreck is buzzing with beautiful marine life.

“Cook Island” is known as a Marine Reserve and is home to a wide variety of marine life and breeding seabirds. Cook Island provides a great opportunity to visit a protected area and witness why so many love this special place. Max depth here is 13m.

The name of this site comes form its many bommies that exist away and split off from the reef. It is located at the southern end of Hastings Reef and offers shallow waters, ideal for snorkeling and beginner divers.

Sea lions are pinnipeds that are easily recognizable by their external ear flaps, cute, pointy nose, long, puffed up chest, and their ability to walk on all fours. Some of the more popular sea lion species are the California sea lion and the Steller sea lion. These fast, agile swimmers can reach up to 30 knots underwater and are very curious about the world around them. In fact, sea lions are not afraid of scuba divers in the least and have been known to buzz right around a group of divers, blow bubbles at them, and even chewing on their snorkels and fins.

A close relative to the manatee, dugongs are thought by some to be the motivation of seafaring tales of mermaids with their shapely bodies and fluked tails. In fact, they belong to the classification order Sirenia. Dugongs are the only strictly herbivorous marine mammals in the world and can be found all throughout the southern hemisphere, encompassing 40 countries and territories within the Indian and Pacific Oceans.

With females able to grow up to 7 meters long, the great white shark is the largest predatory fish on earth. It owes its name to its light, almost white, belly color, making it almost invisible to prey looking up from the seafloor. It’s body is similar in construction to a torpedo, making them very good, fast swimmers. In fact, they can reach speeds of up to 25 km/h and, like whales, have the ability to launch their entire body out of the water. Not many species prey on great whites, but if it is attacked, it can rolls its eyes inward for protection. Their eyes can absorb weak light, allowing them to see better in twilight than a cat.

Often times considered the most beautiful of all sea turtle species with it’s mottled, colorful shell, the hawksbill sea turtle is one of the smaller species. These graceful creatures are the most tropical of all the turtles and can be found mainly on coral reefs throughout the warmest areas of the world’s oceans. They use their narrow, pointed beak (hence their name) to eat an omnivorous diet, feeding on sponges, sea anemones, and jellyfish.