Birthday Ledges

Birthday Ledges is so named due to the high number of surprises hidden in every nook and cranny. The site is the southern most tip of the large Blood reef and therefore should be dived in either no current or in the less common south north current. Sitting further off shore than our other sites, Birthday ledges often has better visibility. As you drop down to the deepest part of the site you'll be at 18m and will find an awesome cave roughly 2m in height. While in front of the cave you'll look up to see a colourful array of pink and orange thistle coral. This cave is an area to explore as one can enter the cave through the side wall and exit at three different points. The cave system has three main areas… The 2m deep passage leading out towards the right is the best of the swim throughs as it is slightly wider than the rest and therefore lessens the chance of you damaging the reef or yourself and your gear. The center passage, directly in front of the cave entrance is approximately 3m deep but has no exit point at the end of it how ever there is a roof exit that is in the center of all these passages. The passage leading north, or to the left, is the narrowest of the lot, as it has more overhead rock handing down. It's great to have a torch along, especially in this area as there are always interesting things hiding in the dark recesses of the cave. The northern passage if followed leads towards the channel like rock structure that you'll follow from here. The channel walls are in between 3-4m high, not always being solid to the ground. You'll come across many cave like gaps along the bottom edge of the wall that often house Blue stingrays. The channel walls camouflage many paperfish and the more commonly overlooked Painted anglerfish. Painted angler fish are known as Frogfish and are on most avid divers' 'to-see list'. The skin patterns blend in well with there surroundings and that can easily be mistaken as a small sponge or coral.