Northwest Corner

The northwest corner of Holmes Reef is the classic big-animal dive. The corner acts as a convergence point where currents from two reef faces meet, pushing nutrients up from depth and concentrating pelagic predators. Schools of scalloped hammerheads are seen here on early morning dives during the cooler months, and silvertip sharks are present year-round in numbers rarely seen elsewhere in the Coral Sea. The wall below 30 metres transitions into a staircase of ledges and overhangs encrusted with orange and yellow soft corals, providing shelter for large grouper and resting nurse sharks.