North Stradbroke Island · Australia · Reef
Flat Rock - Nursery
Flat Rock's shallow corner, 4 to 18 m over juvenile fish
Area photo: Tanya Dedyukhina · CC BY 3.0
The Nursery is the shallow dive on Flat Rock, on the southwestern corner of the reef, running from 4 m at the top of the rock down to 18 m. The dive centre rates it best dived when strong northerly winds are running, and grades it Open Water and snorkel. The rock is home to lots of juvenile fish and to plant and coral life rather than the sharks the other Flat Rock sites are known for.
Also known as The Nursery.
Where it is and how deep
27.3912° S, 153.5510° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The Nursery sits on the southwestern corner of the reef at Flat Rock, and the dive centre rates it best dived when strong northerly winds are running. Depths go from 4 m at the top of the rock down to 18 m, which makes it a long, shallow dive with no deep section to plan around and time to work slowly over the reef instead of covering distance to a single feature.
It is the small-scale dive in the Flat Rock set. This shallow site is home to lots of juvenile fish and pretty plant and coral life, so the interest sits close to the rock rather than out in the blue — the sharks and the depth are at the other Flat Rock moorings. The dive centre grades it Open Water and also runs it as a snorkel, which makes it a workable second dive of the day or a site for divers still building hours.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good |
Season follows North Stradbroke Island: Mantas work the Manta Bommie cleaning stations Oct–Apr; grey nurse sharks and humpbacks arrive Jun–Oct, when visibility is also at its best. Boats run Friday to Tuesday.
Sources
- Dive Sites — Manta Lodge & Scuba Centre — Manta Lodge & Scuba Centre
- Flat Rock - Nursery — Scubago
More dive sites in North Stradbroke Island
Shore dive timed for slack water at the top of the tide
Wall
Near-vertical walls dived four or five times a year
Deep reef at 28 to 45 m with resident bull sharks
Winter sand channel where grey nurse sharks gather
Small cave at 10 m on Flat Rock's northern side
Reef
Shallow cleaning stations that mantas work from October to April
Reef
Decompression depths, strong current, whaler sharks
Reef
The area's shelter dive, 800 m off Home Beach
Similar dives elsewhere
Nature-reserve island with wobbegongs in the rocks and stingrays on the sand
The southernmost reef where plate coral grows this thickly
A training-depth bay with a reef regrowing after Cyclone Debbie
A 10-22 m reef of overhangs and swim-throughs