Big Plates

Meet the site

Big Plates is listed by DiveJourney as a Mooloolaba reef site: an 'easy local reef with plate corals and small overhangs', with healthy coral, typical visibility of about 12 m, no current and light surge. The large plate corals give the site its name and are fragile – good buoyancy is essential.

Like the other named sites off Mooloolaba, it sits on the Gneering Shoals reef system, which Scuba Diver Life describes as gutters, ledges, caves and pinnacles with coral gardens in 8-33 m, and Scuba World summarises its reef sites as mostly 15-20 m (range 12-35 m, average 18 m) with 'incredible macro life'. The rock is covered in a subtropical mix of algae, sponges, ascidians, soft corals and scattered hard corals. Typical residents across these reefs include butterflyfish, angelfish, wrasse, morwong, surgeonfish, moray eels, wobbegongs, turtles and rays, with some of the highest nudibranch diversity in Queensland; leopard sharks visit in summer and grey nurse sharks and humpback whales in winter.

Scuba World Mooloolaba includes the site in the rotation for its reef double dives, which run about 15-30 minutes from The Wharf and are chosen on the day according to swell, wind and current. Visibility is typically 8-15 m, best in winter after southerly winds. Mooloolaba operators confirm trips by email or text around 3.30 pm the day before, depending on sea conditions, and plan local reef dives to about 50 minutes or 50 bar, whichever comes first, with the surface interval spent on the boat. Open Water certification is the usual minimum for the reef sites.

Ask the dive crew for a site brief before descending.

What you might see

Plate corals, reef fish, nudibranchs, turtles, wobbegongs

Location

Easy local reef off Mooloolaba with large plate corals and small overhangs.

Facilities nearby

Departure: The Wharf, Mooloolaba