Kimbe Bay · Papua New Guinea · Seamount · Pelagic & blue water · Wall
Bradford Shoal
An isolated seamount that pulls in barracuda and trevally schools
Area photo: Kimbe at en.wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0
Bradford Shoal is a seamount: an isolated reef that rises from considerable depths to within 20 m of the surface, offshore in Kimbe Bay. Twin summits slope down to a lip at about 27 m, past which the drop is almost sheer. The coral on top is flat-plate hard coral and leather coral, but the reason boats make the run is the pelagic schools the shoal concentrates.
Also known as Bradford's Shoal, Bradford Shoals.
Where it is and how deep
5.1667° S, 150.3000° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
There is nothing shallow here. The shoal rises from considerable depths to within 20 m of the surface, so the dive starts as a blue-water descent onto the twin summits. From the summits the reef slopes down to a lip at about 27 m, and past that lip the drop is almost sheer vertical into open water.
The reef structure on top is predominantly flat plates of hard coral, an adaptation that makes the most of the reduced sunlight at that depth, mixed with many colonies of leather coral, Sarcophyton. Among the corals are the smaller reef fish, fairy basslets, butterflyfish and damselfish, along with quite a number of pink anemonefish. It is worth a pass on the way out to the edge.
The main reason for diving Bradford Shoal is big fish, and the reef acts as a magnet for them. On almost any dive there are large schools of barracuda, pinjalo, big-eye trevally, dogtooth tuna, unicornfish and fusiliers, with grey reef sharks working the same water and, on rare occasions, a hammerhead. Face the blue off the lip rather than staying nose-down in the coral, and watch gas: the profile never comes shallower than 20 m.
Marine life and season
- Barracuda
- Trevally & jacks
- Tuna
- Reef sharks
- Hammerheads
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good |
Season follows Kimbe Bay: Diveable year-round; May–October dry season typically gives clearer water and calmer seas.
Know before you go
- The shoal tops out at 20 m, so there is no shallow reef to run the dive out on; plan the safety stop in open water on the line or an SMB.
- Past the lip at about 27 m the wall drops almost vertically into deep water, which makes depth easy to lose track of when a school moves down.
Dive videos
2014 12 30 Bradford Shoal, Papua New Guinea 2 · dvdiverjp i on YouTube
Into the Tornade of Barracuda · 後藤ゆかり on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is Bradford Shoal?+
The shoal rises from deep water to within 20 m of the surface, and the reef slopes from its twin summits to a lip at about 27 m. Beyond that lip the drop is almost sheer vertical, so the recreational profile stays between 20 and 27 m.
What sharks are seen at Bradford Shoal?+
Grey reef sharks are the ones divers usually see, patrolling with the pelagic schools the shoal attracts. A hammerhead turns up on rare occasions.
Sources
- Kimbe Bay | Walindi Plantation Resort — Walindi Plantation Resort
- Bradford Shoal, Papua New Guinea — GeoNames
In The Logbook
- Where to dive in every month of the yearTrip planning · 14 min read
More dive sites in Kimbe Bay
Reef
Schooling barracuda and trevally when a current is running
Reef
Dense stands of red whip gorgonians tangled with crinoids
Reef
Dark red sea fans two to three metres across
Similar dives elsewhere
Fusiliers roll down the slope thick enough to block the view.
Seamount
Planet Rock
Madang & the North Coast · Papua New Guinea
Grey reef sharks on patrol and hammerheads in the deeper water
Vertical seamount wall dived at 25–30 m in swirling current
Seamount
E-6
Bligh Water & Vatu-i-Ra · Fiji
A pinnacle climbing 900 m to within a metre of the surface