Football Field (King George Sound)

Meet the site

The Football Field is one of the deepest and least-dived reef sites in King George Sound. It lies about a kilometre east of Michaelmas Island, where the sea floor falls away through a landscape of canyons and huge bommies from about 16 m on the top to levels of 60-66 m on the southern side. Marine Life Network's site list describes the bommies as covered in masses of sponge growth, huge gorgonians and black coral, with fish that are large and numerous – a sign of how rarely it is visited.

The name suggests a flat, open expanse on top, which gives way to vertical relief as the reef drops toward the south. On the deeper parts the sponges and fans become larger and more intact than on the popular sites, and big blue groper, queen snapper, samson fish and kingfish patrol the canyon edges. The sheer scale of the bommies and the colour of the sponge life at depth are the attraction.

The site is explicitly for experienced air divers and technical divers. Recreational divers can make a worthwhile dive on the top and upper canyons within 30 m, but the deeper terrain requires decompression planning, appropriate gas and a boat team ready to track divers in current. There is no mooring, no shelter from easterlies and no quick shore exit. For suitably qualified divers it offers something rarely found in a sound otherwise known for sheltered, moderate-depth dives: a deep, pristine temperate reef within 20 minutes of a boat ramp.

What you might see

Massive sponges, huge gorgonians, black coral, blue groper, queen snapper, samson fish, yellowtail kingfish, harlequin fish, boarfish, schooling pelagics

Location

Deep canyon-and-bommie reef about 1 km east of Michaelmas Island, from 16 m on top to over 60 m on its southern side.