In August 2020 Bob “Tango” Lewis and I dived Cook Island with Kirra Dive. Cook Island lies just 600 metres offshore, 4 kilometres south-east of Tweed Heads, northern NSW. The island is located within the area historically occupied by the Minjungbal people of the Bundjalung nation. In 1770 the first recorded European sighting of Cook Island was made by the English navigator James Cook and in 1823, the crew of English explorer John Oxley named it Turtle Island after it’s numerous turtles. Five years later, a British admiral renamed Cook Island.

Blue Pacific whisked Bob and I out to Cook Island for the first of 4 dives, two at North Wall, two at South Wall. Almost 200 years had passed since the island had briefly been named Turtle Island - it had been an appropriate name, there were still a lot of turtles for Bob and me to see.