South West Rocks,  about six hours north of Sydney, is one of NSW’s best dive spots, chiefly because it offers unparralled opportunities to get up close to the Grey Nurse shark.

This shark looks like your classic spine tingling man eater, (it’s not however) especially upon first meeting them face to face in the open ocean.  Large, several metres in length, with the classic Shark profile, of large dorsal fins, sleek body, and under hung jaw, with a mouth lined with rows of very sharp looking teeth.

The dive under Rock Island is a thrilling 10 minute dive through the deep end opening, swimming against some strong currents into the cave, along a fairly enclosed tunnel section, and then up a chimney into a larger chamber, and then out towards the light at the shallow end.  It is here that the fish, turtles, rays, and schools of sharks congregate, taking advantage of the warmer water, abundant food, and relative safety and refuge of the cave.  It is a spectacular site to emerge from the cave darkness,  see the light puring into the entrance, and up to ten sharks swimming around.

But while the shark looks fearsome, it has a relatively benign reputation.  up close, and seeing them en masse, they are exceptionally beautiful and gentle.  Sleek, with beady eyes, they are also quite timid, and will retreat if a diver strays into their space.  Taking up residence on the floor of the cave, with two other diver/photographers, and remaining still and calm, the sharks re-emerge, gently swimming up to us, and around us, allowing us to get some great shots, but more importantly, to be in the company of one of the ocean’s great animals.

Unfortunately the numbers of Grey Nurse sharks have been on decline for most of the second half of the last century and are now an endangered protected species in Australia.  Industrial net fishing is once again to blame, for indiscriminately catching nurse sharks along with the commercial catch.  The sharks own reproductive cycle also has an influence on numbers; the shark matures late, and generally only gives birth to two live sharks, the two lucky survivors of a whole clutch of young sharks, their siblings all having been eaten in the uterus of the mother shark.

South West Rocks is a superb dive destination, and the divers that go there, and are lucky enough to swim with the sharks, are important in educating our friends and family, that not all sharks are dangerous, but are magnificent animals that need to protected

More on the shark here from Wiki, and also conservation here, again from Wiki

also – someone just forwarded me this, an incredible feat of someone swimming through the entire cave free diving