Top Scuba Dive Shops in Rainbow Beach
#1 - Wolf Rock Dive Centre
“Australia’s Best Shark and Ray Dive”
Wolf Rock Dive Centre is situated in the picturesque little beachside town of Rainbow Beach, Queensland just a 2.5 hour drive north of Brisbane and 1.5 hour drive south of Hervey Bay.
It is believed that Wolf Rock was given its name by Captain Cook who had a Lieutenant Wolfe onboard the HMS Endeavour. The two pinnacles that break the surface regardless of the tides would have represented a significant navigational hazard for early seafarers.
We now know that Wolf Rock is just the tip of a large site made up of a series of volcanic pinnacles, gutters, and gulley’s some as deep as 38m. Located just 2km off Double Island Point it is the last significant rocky outcrop before Fraser Island, the largest sand island in the world at.
Essentially an oasis in a desert, animals from all over the East coast of Australia come to Wolf Rock to be cleaned, to breed, to seek shelter, and to eat!
Wolf Rock is of particular significance to the East Coast population of grey Nurse Sharks as it is the only known site where they come to both mate and gestate. For this reason Wolf Rock was declared a green zone in 2002 with a 1.5km no fishing exclusion zone surrounding the site.
It not just about the Grey Nurse Sharks at Wolf Rock! There are several cleaning stations that attract a number of species of Ray, including the Manta Ray between April and October.
is at the top end of the Sunshine Coast just north of Noosa and our nearest neighbor is the world’s largest sand island Fraser Island.
Located just off Double Island Point, Wolf Rock has long been considered one of the best dives in Australia and a must do for your itinerary if you intend travelling up or down the East Coast of Australia.
Additional to our world-class dive site, Wolf Rock Dive Centre offers a variety of dive courses from Discover Scuba Dives all the way through to Divemaster internships. We also offer a myriad of PADI specialties, first-aid courses and PADI distinctive specialties designed specifically for our special region.
Grey nurse sharks are found here all year round. The numbers vary according to their lifecycle and the largest numbers are always seen from Spring through to Autumn. During the winter months we get to see the humpback whale migration; manta rays can be seen at any time of the year but are more prevalent outside of the warmer months. During those summer months we are joined by the leopard sharks and we see eagle rays and giant Queensland grouper all year round. Apart from that we see three different species of turtle, schools of pelagic and we also have all the little stuff like nudibranchs, colourful tropical fish, hard and soft corals, octopus, moray eels, sea snakes and so on.
Whether you’re into wide angle or micro there is something here for everyone. If this sounds like your kind of dive, then we hope to see you very soon!