Bradford Shoals — Kimbe Bay

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Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Kimbe Bay location page.

Overview

Offshore seamount rising from 600 m to a coral-capped summit at 10 m. Schooling barracuda, scalloped hammerheads in season, and an exceptional sea fan and soft coral garden across the plateau. One of Kimbe's premier blue-water sites.

What you'll see

4 species curated

Scalloped hammerhead
seasonal
Peak: Mar · Apr · May · Jun
Schooling barracuda
year-round
Grey reef shark
year-round
Dogtooth tuna
year-round

Sightings evidence

1 record on file

Scalloped hammerhead
medium confidence
Last confirmed
May 2026
Recent records
45 within 50 km
Cluster months
Mar, Apr, May, Jun

Sources & methodology

How we summarise this

We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.

Sources

Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
Wildbook (Sharkbook, Whale Shark, Manta Matcher) — Wild Me
OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
FishBase — FishBase Consortium
Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation

Conditions

Month	Water	Visibility	Current
Jan	28–30 °C	20–30 m	moderate
Feb	28–30 °C	20–30 m	moderate
Mar	28–30 °C	25–40 m	moderate
Apr	28–30 °C	25–40 m	moderate
May	28–30 °C	25–40 m	moderate
Jun	27–29 °C	20–30 m	moderate
Jul	27–29 °C	20–30 m	moderate
Aug	27–29 °C	20–30 m	moderate
Sep	27–29 °C	20–30 m	moderate
Oct	28–30 °C	20–30 m	moderate
Nov	28–30 °C	20–30 m	moderate
Dec	28–30 °C	20–30 m	moderate

Season calendar

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Peak season highlighted · current month outlined

Gear for this site

Beyond the basic kit

Reef hook — Plateau is exposed; hooking in beats fighting current.
SMB — Open-water surfacing standard.

Next step

Book your trip to Kimbe Bay

Hotels, liveaboards, dive operators, gear recommendations, and travel logistics for the whole region.

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