New South Wales

Northern Beaches Council

Australia

Good alternative choice if the sea is too rough at Shelley Beach



Manly

Little Manly Cove

Shallow, easy dive to navigate. Head straight into the water and follow the reek either left or right and turn around once you're halfway through your air.
Lots of things to see like eels, occys and nudi's. Highlight here is if you get to catch a glimpse of the dusky whalers. GREAT night dive!

Go down the set of stairs at the end of Little Bower Street.

Fairy Bower

White sand and a natural reef of boulders and rocks. Sea dragons, dusky whalers, small rays... but not much fixed life.

Parking available in Council car park at end of Bower St - parking $4+ or free if you park on the residential streets further away. Short walk down to sandy beach - park benches and open space available near entry.

Shelly Beach

Fairlight



Dive site access is by boat only as it is located in the middle of Sydney harbour opposite the Gap entrance.

Centurion

A fantastic little spot if you have a boat or go with a dive company. On an incoming tide you can get up to 20m visability to see all the wonderful sealife here. Schooling fish can be seen here, nudibranchs apleny, and keep you eyes out for the giant cuttlefish!
On a more recent excursion here we discovered some weedy sea-dragons, a wobbegong and a few octopus. 
Had lots of fun here with a camera. Nice relaxing dive and a great for newly certified divers.

Access by boat only! This can be done by private charter or Prodive have a boat that runs out of Rose Bay and Manly.

Old Mans Hat

Manly Bombie

The dive path goes towards the left. You may choose to dive over the shallow rocks covered with kelp, or a little further, where the rocks meet the sandy bottom.

The area has numerous rock arrangements with small openings and overhangs. There is numerous rock fish life, making this a very popular spot among spearfishers.

The site is on the northern side of Queenscliff Bay. There is a ticket parking area where you can gear up. There are also some free car spaces just outside the parking area.

To reach the dive site, walk down the steps and circle the rock pool. The entry point is through a small canal on the seaside end of the rock pool. Note that this area is very exposed and the shallow reef may make it difficult to enter and exit.

Harbord

Camp Cove is a very accessible dive. During hight tide the visablity is great. During Change of tides the slit bottom causes the vis to drop.

Southern shore of Sydney Harbour.

Camp Cove

Lots of macro life living on the nets, although very few sea horses left(if any - possibly poached for the aquarium industry? Some schools of bream frequent this area. Watch out for children jumping off the wharf on summer weekends.

Free parking available in front of nets on The Esplanade. Enter the site from the sand between the wharf and the little cafe. Follow the nets around in an anticlockwise direction.

Balmoral Baths

The shark net has a colony of seahorses. There are also soft corals and sponges. Watch out for fishing hooks and rods.

Access from the beach. The most interesting wildlife is on the outside side of the shark net under the pier. Watch out for fishers from the pier, it's safest always to be under the pier. There is pay parking at the beach, and free parking nearby.

Little Manly Cove

Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at Little Manly Cove