Northern Lights is a drift dive at Holmes Reef.

The site is built around large coral pinnacles separated by gutters. When the current runs, water is funnelled through the gutters and around the pinnacles, which makes the dive fast and demanding but also concentrates food and attracts fish. Divers move through the gutters with the current, using the pinnacles for shelter where needed.

No species list is published, but comparable current-swept Holmes sites such as Turbo and The Abyss attract trevally, barracuda, mackerel, tuna and grey reef and whitetip sharks, with healthy soft corals and fans on the up-current faces of the pinnacles. Those comparisons are indicative only.

The name may refer to the site's position on the northern side of the reef, or to the play of light through the gutters; the sources do not say. The depth range and location given here are estimates.

Northern Lights is for experienced divers comfortable in strong current, with good buoyancy and air consumption, and competent with an SMB and open-water ascents. It is a planned drift, so the crew briefing on entry point, route and pick-up is essential, and divers should stay together. When the current is too strong, crews will pick another site, and there are plenty of calmer options at Holmes.

Liveaboard only. Mike Ball's Spoilsport includes Holmes Reef on its 7-night Coral Sea exploratory (Cairns return), the 7-night Yongala & Coral Sea expedition (Townsville to Cairns) and the 10-night Coral Sea Odyssey; the overnight crossing from Cairns is about 240 km of open ocean. Holmes is normally allocated a day on these itineraries.

Northern Lights is run as a planned drift from a tender, with pick-up at the end.

Holmes Reef is a pair of isolated Coral Sea atolls about 240–250 km east of Cairns with no land for shelter. Dive the World calls it a fair-weather destination: SE trades over about 20 knots (common June–August) make the crossing and surface conditions rough, although the lagoons and western sides offer some protection. Currents are normally gentle but can be strong in the channels and on the ridges, especially on a falling tide.

September–December usually has the calmest seas and 20–40 m visibility; December–April is cyclone season.

Drop from the tender up-current as briefed, descend quickly to the gutters between the pinnacles, use the pinnacles as shelter from the current while moving through, and ascend under an SMB at the planned turn point for pick-up.

Coral Sea liveaboards visiting Holmes Reef – occasional, experienced divers only.