 Loloata
Island Jetty:
Distance from Loloata - on site
Best Diving Depths - 0 to 10
meters
Best Time / Tide - early morning
or night dive. High tide.
Highlights - Dwarf lionfish and
red (black) firefish, ringed
pipefish, colourful patterned
black sea urchins, razorfish,
mantis shrimp, double ended
pipefish, emperor shrimp, banded
sea krait, harlequin ghost
pipefish.
Easy dive.
A 20 Havoc (WWII Wreck):
Distance from Loloata - 1
nautical mile (from Jetty)
Best Diving Depths - 5 meters
(reef) 18 meters (airplane
wreck)
Best Time / Tide - morning or
high tide.
Highlights - Fully intact WWII
American A 20 Havoc bomber on
sand bottom. Pretty hard coral
garden in the safety stop zones.
Lion Island:
Distance from Loloata - 0.8
nautical mile
Best Diving Depths - 3 to 25
meters
Best Time / Tide - Any. Several
dive sites in a small area.
Highlights - Reef, sand,
seagrass, "muck" dives and
scuttled wrecks. The weird and
wonderful abound here.
Inhabitants that belong to
another world and another
dimension. These dives are
mandatory for serious macho
photographers.
North Patch:
Distance from Loloata - 1.5
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 6 to 12
meters
Best Time / Tide - High tide.
Highlights - Lovely hard coral
garden. many varieties of not so
common hard corals growing in
fine formations on this small
reef. Often visited by large
Spanish Mackerel.
South Patch:
Distance from Loloata - 2.5
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 4 to 15
meters
Best Time / Tide - High tide.
Often effected by currents
during spring tides.
Highlights - Pillars of hard
corals, often with undercuts and
small caves underneath lots of
colour. Good amount of resident
reef fish.
Lilians Patch:
Distance from Loloata - 2.7
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 6 to 20
meters
Best Time / Tide - Can be
effected by spring tides.
Highlights - Pretty stands of
various hard corals and
corkscrew sea whips. Colourful
soft corals and fan corals.
Scorpionfish, stonefish and
Rhinopias (Merletts
Scorpionfish) can be found.
Quayles Reef:
Distance from Loloata - 3.2
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 4 to 12
meters
Best Time / Tide - Any.
Highlights - Colour! Every
conceivable colour splashed
across the reef. Resident
Rhinopias (Merletts
Scorpionfish) and Harlequin
ghost pipefish.
The Tunnel:
Distance from Loloata - 2.9
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 5 to 15
meters
Best Time / Tide - Any. Strong
winds and high seas make this
site inaccessible.
Highlights - Small tunnel swim
through in 12 meters, usually
packed with fish. Sloping wall
with seawhips, gorgonian fans
and soft corals.
Pacific Gas (Wreck):
Distance from Loloata - 3.1
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 16 to 30
meters Wreck lays with her mast
in 9 meters and her rudder in 45
meters.
Best Time / Tide - Location is
exposed so weather conditions
must be right. Caution with
moderate currents diving spring
tides.
Highlights - Scuttled in 1986
for sport divers. Ship is 65.1
meters long. Tremendous
quantities of fish surrounding
the wreck. magnificent corals
particularly on the mast.
Resident lionfish, leaf
scorpionfish and ghost pipefish.
One of the two sites where the
red lined anthias is found.
MV Pal 2 (Wreck):
Distance from Loloata - 3.4
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 15 to 23
meters. Wreck lays with her
masts in 15 meters and her keel
in 27 meters.
Best Time / Tide - Any. Very
protected site in most weather
conditions.
Highlights - Scuttled in 1982
for sport divers, 25 meter steel
prawn trawler. Masts are thick
with black corals, soft corals
and tubastraea trees. Good
quantities of fish life on and
around the wreck Red lined
anthias and Harliquin ghost
pipefish found here.
The End Bommie:
Distance from Loloata - 3.5
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 6 to 20
meters
Best Time / Tide - Out going
tide for fishlike
Highlights - Rhinopias (Merletts
scorpionfish) and crocodile
flathead are often found here.
Walls covered with gorgonian
fans, pink seawhips, tubastraea
and soft coral trees. Falling
tide brings vast quantities of
fish life to feed in the
current. Pygmy seahorses are not
uncommon.
The Big Drop:
Distance from Loloata - 3
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - From 10
meters down
Best Time / Tide - Any. Caution
must be taken to avoid currents
during spring tides.
Highlights - Sheer wall, large
gorgonian fans in deeper water,
chance of seeing sharks and
rays. Abundant fish life,
including pygmy seahorses.
Suzies Bommie:
Distance from Loloata - 3.3
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 12 to 30
meters
Best Time / Tide - Exposed
location. Caution must be
observed with weather and
currents.
Highlights - Pristine bommie
situated on white sand. Plethora
of corals and fish life.
Superlatives cannot describe
this dive site. Good site for
pygmy seahorses.
Baldwins Bommie:
Distance from Loloata - 3.5
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 15 to 35
meters
Best Time / Tide - Any. Caution
with strong winds and high seas.
Highlights - Something for all
lens sizes, from extreme wide
angle right down to extreme
macro. Chance of encountering
sharks and rays. Hard and soft
corals abound. Large schools of
fish with right current.
The Chimneys:
Distance from Loloata - 6.8
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 6 to 30
meters
Best Time / Tide - Slightly
exposed location, subject to
moderate currents.
Highlights - Pelagic fish often
seen cruising off the side of
the bommie. Good macro life for
those with keen eyes.
The Pumpkin Patch:
Distance from Loloata - 6.5
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 10 to 25
meters
Best Time / Tide - Any. Caution
with high seas and moderate
currents.
Highlights - Chance of seeing
sharks. Abundant reef fish. Good
coral cover, black coral trees,
soft corals, gorgonian fans,
staghorn corals, plate corals,
ships. Many excellent cover shot
opportunities.
Nadines Passage:
Distance from Loloata - 7.6
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 5 to 50
meters
Best Time / Tide - A short drift
on a rising tide.
Highlights - Massive gorgonians,
expansive fields of soft corals
mixed with pink seawhips. Walls
and ridges adorned with beauty
unsurpassed. Good chance of
finding pygmy seahorses.
The Pinnacles:
Distance from Loloata - 9.2
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 10 to 35
meters
Best Time / Tide - Any. Moderate
currents during spring tides.
Highlights - Passing pelagic
fish quite common. Magnificent
corals, especially gorgonian
fax, pink seawhips and branching
soft corals. Rich variety of
resident reef fish. Pygmy
seahorses. Sea snakes quite
common. Excellent site for
photographers.
Sandy Passage:
Distance from Loloata - 15.5
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 10 to 45
meters
Best Time / Tide - Incoming
tide. Usually done as a drift up
the channel.
Highlights - Abundant fish life
waiting for passing morsels.
Usually a good chance of seeing
sharks, eagle rays and possibly
mantas. Large gorgonian fans,
barrel sponges, seawhips and
huge tubastraea trees.
P.J.'s Passage:
Distance from Loloata - 21
nautical miles
Best Diving Depths - 10 to 40
meters
Best Time / Tide - Usually a
drift on a incoming tide, but
can be done as an outgoing
drift. Inaccessible in any but
good conditions.
Highlights - Home of eagle rays,
occasionally mobula and sharks.
Expect the unexpected. |
