Guided Shore Dives (Double Dive)

Bare Island jutts out dramatically from the mainland and is accessible on foot from a long wooden walkway. The right side of the island is protected and good for diving even when the sea is rough. Multiple dive sites exist around the island making it a place that you can keep coming back to.

If you dive the right side you will initially drop down to about 15 metres and cross over a small reef. If you turn left and head southwest you will cross a sandy bottom and wind up at the main reef. Flatheads, numbrays, rays and flounder can be seen half buried in the sand so be careful if you touch the bottom.  There is a gutter that you can swim through between rocks and kelp near the reef.

The marine life on the reef can be very plentiful. Noteworthy are the pygmy seahorses and weedy sea dragons one can see here. There are also several kinds of sharks that can be seen here, namely grey nurse sharks, port jackson and the occasional dusky whaler. At about 20 metres is a low overhang around which a lot of sea life exists. There are catfish, Sydney cardinalfish, yellow-banded sea perch, and half-banded perch. On your way to this cave are colorful sponges, giant ascidians, lace coral, Bairds solitary coral, and sea tulips.

If you dive down on the left side you will land on a sandy bottom at about 6 metres. The bottom slowly slopes down as you proceed southeast. There are overhangs and caves as you swim along and you may be able to see wobbegongs, port jacksons and pineapplefish among other things. Sponges and nudibranchs can also be seen on the rocks here and sea dragons are around
 

Freshwater Sydney - The best shore based dive site on the Northern beach, wonderful reef structure, for advanced diver two significant reef structures east of the point with a max depth of 20m. This site along with abundance of typical sydney marine life comes to life in Summer with Sydney's biggest population of Southern Eagle Rays, Autumn you'll see Ginat Cuttle fish and of course in Spring the Port Jackson Shark. Of all the shore based sites we do this consistently delivers the best shore based diving in Sydney

Gordons Bay is located North of Coogee and offers easy diving in calm conditions, with a maximum depth of 14 meters. This site is especially suitable for novice divers and night Dives. Entry into the dive is directly from the carpark, just follow the path down into the water. One of the unique features is the nature trail, defined by a chain which you can follow around the site (note the chain can disappear under the sand at some points) . The trail is approximately 600ms and the dive itself will take on average 30-40 minutes. Features include a small wall imaginatively named "The Wall" and is considered the most interesting part of the dive. Gordons Bay is protected by a reef called the 'Bommie". You will find Sydney's usual suspects on this dive, Blue Groper, Sting Rays, Wrasse , Nudibranchs ,Goat Fish and Port Jackson in winter.

With a variety of dive sites on offer, we can cater for beginnners, veterens and everyone in between! .This area offers some of the most interesting and diverse marine life in Sydney including the beautiful Weedy Sea Dragon!

The best site will be selected on the day by one of our experienced Divemasters/Instructors and is determined by a number of factors including swell, tides and experience of the group.

The Monument

The entry and exit point for this dive are both in the same spot (unless you do it as a drift dive). It's a little channel between the rocks right in front of the flagpole. It is one of the easiest entries in that you can sit on the rocks to put your fins on and in all but the most severe conditions, as there are no waves.

The Monument is a very easy dive site, with the relatively longer surface swim being the hardest part. Due to its location right in the bay, visibility can be a little worse here than the other sites around Kurnell. Overall however, it is still a very nice relaxing dive with usually lots to see.  Once you enter the water, snorkel out over kelp in a north easterly direction. There is a red navigation marker out in the bay and if you head towards it you are going in the right direction. Once you become sick of snorkelling you can descend as sometimes large rays are seen swimming over the kelp. At this point you will be in about 4 mt of water so continue to follow your compass until you come to a drop off.  Drop over the wall for the main part of the dive.  If visibility is poor the top of the wall also makes an interesting dive. Swim along with the wall on your right.

The Monument is a great dive to take a torch, as there are numerous overhangs where you could see anything from large Cuttlefish to Blue Devils, Wobbegongs and even the occasional Banded Coral Shrimp.

This dive is often done as a drift on an outgoing tide where you can drift around to Sutherland Point, or even the Steps depending on air supply

The Steps

After entering the water, swim towards Bare Island for about 20 metres.  Descend here amongst the large boulders and make your way down to the sand at around 10 metres.

Follow the sand edge to the east and the water gradually gets deeper to about 15 metres. When looking at the sponge covered rocks,  have a closer look and you will notice a large variety of different species of nudibranchs. The rocks are also home to numerous other species including Blue Throated Ascidians, Lace Coral, Sea Fans, Tube Worms and Sea Squirts.  Many of the rocks are covered with a redish weed. If you look very carefully at this weed, you may even discover a pygmy pipe horse. 

On the sand at the 12 to 15 metres level, in the area up to 3 or 4 metres from the rocks, you should see beautiful common sea dragons, but you must look carefully for they can easily be mistaken for pieces of kelp.  In the late winter and early spring period look close and you may even see an egg laden male. 

The Leap

Take care climbing down the narrow track for this dive, and when you reach the bottom be VERY CAREFUL not to slip on the blackish slime on the rock shelf, especially if wet. If you do not take care YOU WILL SLIP OVER!

This site is done as a drift dive, although we have heard of certain dive stores getting customers out at the same spot, it can be very tricky so not the preffered method.

Swimming directly out from the entry, you will drop down to around 22 metres.  You will find a number of bommies here and if you look carefully you may even spot the occasional seahorse or two.  Swimming further, the depth will decrease to around 10-12 metres. For the most part, exiting at the steps is the easiest. We prefer to get the gear together, pull on the wetsuit or drysuit and then move the vehicle down to the steps carpark rather than climbing all the way up then having to walk up the road with full gear on.

North Bondi is one of Sydneys iconic location's. It is also one of the best shore dives in Sydney. The beach faces South so offers very good protection from the Summer North Easter's. The site has a couple of Iconic features The Slot and the Cathedral, the site in general near Boat ramp entry entry is know for Large Boulders as we head out to the point, the site changes to a series of gutters, Overhang's and swim through's.The site depth range is 6m-19m. The marine life is typical of what you'd expect to see on oceanic sites, sand stone structures, kelp down to 15-16m replaced by spinge gardens at it's deepest points. Marin Life Highlight's - Schooling fish, Blue Groupers, Cuttle fish and Port Jackson sharks in season, Wobbegong shark, sting rays and whole host more. The consideration for this site is swell size and direction, best dived when the wind and swell is coming from the north, can be dived when the swell and the wind from the south is slight or during winter westerlies which often provides smooth glassy conditions. Visibillity at this site tends to be above avearge compared to other sites on the same day Vis can be up to 20-25m on a perfect day but you will tend to get 6-10m vis on most dives.

Enter from the shore along the right hand side of the beach (facing the sea). Keep the rock wall on your right as you head out and on your left as you head back - an easy dive site to navigate. As with any site, Shelly Beach is weather dependant - generally protected during easterly winds, which makes it diveable when a lot of other sites in the area are blown out. Viz can vary from 3 to 15M but is usually clearer during the winter months. On a good day, this is a spectacular site!

The best of the site is further out than most people get to and you do need reasonable air consumption to reach it. Swim out following the rock wall to your right, until it turns northwards and starts to peter out. Take a heading and keep going following the remnants of the rock wall on the sea floor and you should come to a kelp bed. Weedy seadragons are frequently found here and the depth should not exceed 12m.

Along the wall and amongst the big boulders, other marine life seen regularly is the divine eastern blue gropers (wrasse), schools of yellowtail and big eyes, mados and often pike. Red Morwongs, goatfish in the sandy area, flatheads and often ludericks and old wives. Under ledges shrimps galore and often juvenile lionfish. Port Jackson sharks and giant cuttlefish are common in season and wobbegongs sleep in crevices and under the big boulders.