underwater Links

FORECASTS

Wave, wind and tide forecast for Sydney on Seabreeze

Map of the sea temperature from BOM

Real time swell, wind and current for Botany Bay (Kurnell and Bare Island dive sites)


WEBCAMS North to South

Manly Manly2 Bondi Clovelly Maroubra


DIVE SITES AROUND SYDNEY

Surely the best guide is Michael McFadyen’s website. If you are looking for coordinates for a boat dive you can convert Michael’s ones (in AUS66 format) into the more common WGS 84 with this converter and then save them in Google Maps or with a specific navigation free app such as Commander Compass Go or Pure GPS for your smartphone.

Also, no descriptions but a very convenient kmz file with hundreds of locations you can load into Google Earth from Wayne Heming website.

Other coordinates for the artificial reefs of Botany Bay.


SATELLITE PICTURES FOR CHECKING THE COASTLINE SEABED

  • Googlemaps - generally poor visibility of the seabed due to glare from the sun at the zenith but if you install the free Google Earth application you can browse old satellite imagery and find better images (yet not recent).

  • SIX Maps by NSW Government (excellent seafloor visibility if you don’t zoom in too much)

  • Whereis maps another set of maps worth checking, for satellite images select the layer bottom right in the page

  • Microsoft Bing worth checking as it usually has good pictures with little sun glare


SATELLITE PICTURES FOR CHECKING WATER QUALITY

From Sentinel, a satellite picture available every few days, in this link you can see the runoff after heavy rain in March 2021, change the date for checking current conditions


MARINE MAPS

BY RMS: Middle Harbour Port Jackson Sydney ocean side Botany Bay

BY NAVIONICS: UNDERWATER TOPOGRAPHY BY NAVIONICS

BY SEAMAPAUSTRALIA


UNDERWATER VISIBILITY

Video recording of a very informative presentation by our member Jack Hannan on the factors affecting visibility in Sydney


FISH IDENTIFICATION

iNaturalist - once you create a (free) account you can upload fish pictures and in a few seconds the iNaturalist will suggest the most similar fish identities

Fishes of Australia - comprehensive list of the fish of our waters, scroll the gallery to find what you are looking to identify

Nudibranch of NSW - by CSIRO


OTHER

Study on bull sharks presence in the Sydney Harbour

Shark anatomy diagram, an interesting view under the skin of the shark, from www.sharktrust.org

Explore the depths with this cool animation

21 best diving movies of all time


If you have any other good link worth sharing send me a message!