Image of Dave Harasti, UW photographer extraordinaire diving on rebreather in Brisbane, 2005

Newsletter

DIving NSW

When it comes to diversity of diving opportunities and the range of marine life, wrecks and reefs, I would find it hard to believe that anywhere in the world has more to offer than NSW. Ranging from the cool Southern waters around Eden, to the temperate waters of Jervis Bay, the Illawarra, Sydney and Nelsons Bay, to the sub-tropical waters of South West Rocks, Coffs Harbour and Byron Bay, NSW has it all. The Diving in NSW page will have general descriptions of many of these areas, and will link off to more detailed pages about specific areas.

Eden

At the far south coast of NSW, close to the Victorian border, Eden boasts some excellent diving in cool waters which are generally some of the clearest water in NSW. Although there are many reefs in the area, Eden is a magnet for divers from Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra due to its wrecks. The two most famous are the Tasman Hauler and the Henry Bolte, tug boats purposely sunk for divers in the 1980’s. Of the two, the Tasman Hauler is intact, upright and absolutely covered in Jewel Anemones. Its sister, the Henry Bolte, sunk at the same time only a few hundred metres away is on its side and much more broken up, though it is still an excellent dive.

Jervis Bay

Three and a half hours south of Sydney, if Jervis Bay were in warmer waters it would be world famous for its diving opportunities. A large protected bay, excellent diving is available both inside the bay and in particular along the coastline north and south of the entrance.

The Illawarra

Centred on the city of Wollongong, an hour south of Sydney, the Illawarra is an industrial region with excellent diving, consisting of wrecks, reefs and excellent shore diving at Bass Point.

Sydney

Australia’s largest city, Sydney has wonderful diving along the coastline from Cronulla in the South to Palm Beach in the north. Many dive operators serve Sydney, with excellent boat and shore dives conducted year round. Sydney also has an impressive collection of diveable wrecks, and BlueBeyond.com.au now has an additional page just for Diving Sydney’s Wrecks .

Nelson Bay

About 3 hours north of Sydney, and just north of Newcastle, lies a large bay called Port Stephens, with many small towns on different spots around the bay. The largest is Nelson Bay, a town that sports some of the best shore diving you could ever wish for, as well as being the departure point for boat dives to many sites inside and outside the bay. The three key shore diving spots - Halifax Park, Fly Point and The Pipeline - are all extremely prone to tides, and can only be dived about 25 minutes either side of the high (i.e. enter the water 25 mins before, leave 25 mins after). These are great sites, with a variety of temperate and subtropical marine life, with an absolute abundance of nudibranchs. The sites don’t get much easier (assuming you dive with the tides). They make great night dives. An interesting first dive (before doing one of the shore hops) is a boat drift dive in the bay on the incoming tide (about 1.5 - 2 hours before the high). The boat drops you near Fly Point, and you go with the flow, following a divemaster with a float which the boat follows. Its a superb dive.