Great Barrier Reef · Australia · Pinnacle
Steve's Bommie
One coral tower, 30 m to 5 m, dived by spiralling upward
Photo: mattk1979 · CC BY-SA 2.0
Steve's Bommie is an isolated coral tower on the Ribbon Reefs, rising from 30 m to within 5 m of the surface and carrying a memorial plaque at 25 m, where most divers start. The dive is spent circling the tower and working up from the plaque through schooling trevally, snappers and fusiliers to the nudibranchs and pipefish on the coral in the shallows.
Where it is and how deep
15.5012° S, 145.7883° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The bommie stands alone off the reef line, so the dive is simply the tower. Most divers start at the memorial plaque at 25 m, with the base another 5 m below, then work their way around and up. Schooling fish stack around the tower — trevally, snappers, goatfish and fusiliers — with barracuda hanging further out in the blue and whitetip reef sharks passing below.
Higher up, the diving turns small. Nudibranchs and pipefish work the coral of the upper tower and wobbegongs lie flat in the recesses, so the last stretch up to the top at 5 m is where most photographers spend their remaining gas. Dwarf minke whales are on the species list for this stretch of the Ribbon Reefs, but only seasonally, so they are a bonus rather than something to plan a bottom time around.
Marine life and season
- Trevally & jacks
- Barracuda
- Reef sharks
- Wobbegongs
- Nudibranchs
- Whales
- Macro critters
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Fair |
Season follows Great Barrier Reef: Boats sail all year; visibility peaks from September to November and corals spawn in October or November, while December to February brings the most rain, often at night.
Photos from Steve's Bommie
mattk1979 · CC BY-SA 2.0
Richard Ling · CC BY-SA 2.0
Richard Ling · CC BY-SA 2.0
Dive videos
Diving Steve’s Bommie in the Great Barrier Reef, Australia · Atlas & Boots on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is Steve's Bommie?+
The tower runs from 30 m at its base to about 5 m at the top, with a memorial plaque at 25 m where most divers start. Dives begin deep and spiral upward.
Sources
- Australia - Great Barrier Reef - Ribbon Reefs — Dive The World
- Steve's Bommie, Australia (OSM) — OpenStreetMap
Photo credits
- Schooling reef fish over the coral pinnacle of Steve's Bommie by mattk1979, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Openverse
- Diver exploring the coral-covered slopes of Steve's Bommie by mattk1979, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Openverse
- Camouflaged reef stonefish resting against red encrusting coral by Richard Ling, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Close up of bright orange sun coral polyps on the bommie wall by Richard Ling, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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