Dive sites in Australia

Frankston Pier provides shore diving along the southeastern curve of Port Phillip. Pylons supporting the jetty anchor colonial ascidians, red algae, and encrusting sponges above a sand and silt bed. Divers navigate beneath the timber and concrete framework to locate camouflaged animals and benthic rays resting in the shallows.

On the northern headland at the entrance to Botany Bay, Henry Head slopes from sandstone boulders down to kelp and sponge gardens along the sand line. Exposed to open ocean swell, this active site supports temperate marine life across fallen rock blocks and low overhangs that shelter bottom-dwellers.

Off Maroubra headland in southern Sydney, the Magic Point marine reserve protects a resident aggregation of critically endangered grey nurse sharks. Divers navigate a rocky kelp-covered plateau before descending toward sandy gutters and an undercut sandstone cavern. Sharks cruise in slow circles within the main gutter or hover under the overhang, while the surrounding reef structure supports sponge gardens and boulder habitats for temperate marine species.

Martin Island forms part of the Five Islands Nature Reserve off Port Kembla on the New South Wales South Coast. Rocky gutters, kelp-covered boulders, and swim-throughs define the underwater terrain below an active Australian fur seal haul-out. Seals dart through the shallows, sharing the reef with temperate fish and seasonal elasmobranch aggregations.

Off the coast of Portland in southwest Victoria, Nunns Beach offers a shore dive through calcified limestone reefs, kelp canopies, and sandy channels. The reef structure shelters cold-temperate Southern Ocean macro life alongside benthic fish.

Osborn Shoals sits offshore in Bate Bay near Cronulla. Rugged sandstone gutters, broken boulder fields, and dense kelp beds cut through the reef before dropping into sandy clearings. Oceanic swells drive heavy water movement across the exposed rock, sustaining a classic New South Wales temperate reef ecosystem.

Located offshore from the Royal National Park south of Sydney, the SS Tuggerah is an early twentieth-century coastal collier that foundered in a gale. The wreck rests upright on open sand, its stern gear, boiler sections, and propeller intact while the midships have collapsed under ocean swell. The site requires decompression for experienced trimix or deep technical divers exploring regional maritime history.

Sandstone shelves step down into boulder fields and sandy fringes at Sutherland Point, situated along the Kurnell headland in Kamay Botany Bay National Park. Kelp beds blanket shallow ledges before yielding to sponge-covered reef. Divers track the point's contours toward Inscription Point or The Steps to find macro critters and temperate marine life sheltering under overhangs.

Along the southern shore of Botany Bay inside Kamay Botany Bay National Park, The Monument is a Sydney shore dive entered directly from the rock shelf near Captain Cook's landing site. Shallow kelp-covered sandstone boulders give way to a sloping sand seafloor with rocky overhangs and sponges. Divers encounter temperate marine species and macro life here, notably seadragons and bottom-dwelling sharks.

Set along the sandstone headland of Kamay Botany Bay National Park in Kurnell, this Sydney shore dive leads into kelp forests and sponge gardens. Divers navigate a rocky entry into the bay before following a slope of boulders and sand patches. The site works as a standalone out-and-back route or as the exit for drift dives starting at The Leap.