Sites dived on the current: tidal channels like the Gold Coast Seaway, Swansea and Port Phillip Heads, and the reef passes of the Coral Sea and the Rowley Shoals. Surface marker, boat cover and slack-water timing are the essentials.
42 sites
Sydney South & Botany Bay · NSW
A sheltered shallow drift beside the Bare Island bridge with seahorses, pineapplefish and blue-ringed octopus – the…
Lord Howe Island · NSW
The best chance of the rare Ballina angelfish, in a boulder field at the foot of a surface-breaking bommie with…
Drift through 5–8 m rock stacks and caves packed with lobsters, with Galapagos sharks circling on the safety stop and a…
Easy-profile Balls Pyramid dive on a boulder and ledge shelf with lobster-filled overhangs and plate coral – long…
Deeper Balls Pyramid pinnacle with bommies, gutters and ledges from 12 to 36 m – pelagics, Galapagos sharks and Ballina…
Batemans Bay · NSW
One drift that strings together Black Rock's sand gutter, walls, The Arch and the long low cave under the rock.
Jervis Bay · NSW
Easy drift over low sponge-covered ridges and boulders with giant cuttlefish.
Newcastle & Lake Macquarie · NSW
A narrow, vertical-walled sandstone inlet with an old car wreck at its head, opening onto reef walls to 16 m.
South West Rocks · NSW
A high-current drift dive through gutters and canyons linking Fish Rock to The Pinnacle — only diveable in the roughly…
A rare, conditions-dependent long circuit past giant groper, dense bannerfish schools and multiple turtle species along…
A twin-peaked pinnacle rising to 6-8 m with a resident grey nurse shark aggregation in the sand gutter below and a…
Port Stephens · NSW
A sponge-covered wall to 26 m inside Port Stephens with excellent macro life — genuinely strong tidal current demands a…
Boulders, ledges and swim-throughs under some of Sydney's best sponge gardens, sheltered in a north-easterly and only 1…
The iron hull and mast fragments of an 1898 clipper periodically uncovered in the Maroubra surf, 50 m from the sand.
Sheltered multilevel reef with shallow caves under the cliffs at the corner of Point Perpendicular; a gentle drift on…
A one-way flood-tide drift past Sydney's best sponge gardens and up to twenty seadragons, finishing at the Monuments…
Tweed & Byron Bay · NSW
A current-swept boulder near the Needles known for dense schools of pelagic fish holding in the current.
Julian Rocks' big-animal site: a summer leopard shark aggregation among towering bommies, plus regular manta rays and…
A 40–60 minute macro drift around La Perouse Point with seadragons, firefish, pygmy pipehorses, anglerfish and…
Ulladulla · NSW
Relaxed 600 m drift along a cracked wall below Ulladulla Lighthouse with angel sharks and rays on the sand.
A 1950 Army lighter lost with all hands in a cyclone, undiscovered until 2009 and now one of Australia's premier deep…
One of the region's best-known winter grey nurse shark aggregation sites, in a natural amphitheatre nicknamed the Shark…
The most varied edge of Osborn Shoal: a sponge-covered drop-off, slanted parallel reefs and a good drift in a light…
Merimbula · NSW
Tidal drift through an estuary entrance on the flood tide.
Coffs Harbour & Solitary Islands · NSW
A remote, U-shaped pinnacle with a semi-trailer-sized tunnel through its base, huge jewfish and kingfish schools, and…
A sheer 17–26 m wall in the Botany Bay entrance dense with pink invertebrates, pipefish and pygmy pipehorses – found in…
A pristine 18–25 m wall 150 m off the cemetery cliffs, often with 25 m visibility, and the start of an 800 m drift to…
Shoalhaven Coast · NSW
Remote offshore banks with walls to 50 m, pristine colourful sessile life and pelagic sharks including hammerheads.
The signature dive of the Solitary Islands Marine Park: a natural arch through a boulder field with one of the most…
The most intact engine room of any Sydney wreck, buried in schooling fish, at 45 m off Royal National Park.
Rare 1863 iron collier with upright engine and boiler at 58–59 m in the Botany Bay approaches; lost with all but one of…
A deep sea-whip and gorgonian garden at 37–50 m in 25–35 m visibility – one of NSW's finest deep dives.
Easy shore entry with dense fish life concentrated around the bridge pylons; a reliable option when the open coast is…
A long, fish-filled drift through Swansea Channel finishing at a different exit point — good current-diving practice…
Leap off the rocks, drop to a 22 m wall and drift the flood tide west over sponge gardens and seadragons to The Steps –…
The gorgonian-covered 15–22 m wall at the seaward edge of The Leap reef, often in 20 m+ visibility, by boat or as a…
Sydney's most southerly-proof shore dive – a 3 m wall of sponge gardens and overhangs with breeding seadragons, dived…
Sydney Northern Beaches · NSW
Surface-breaking pinnacles and a maze of house-sized boulders with swim-throughs and sea dragons, all shallower than 18…
Narooma & Montague Island · NSW
Kelp-topped pinnacles dropping into a deep sponge garden at the northern tip of Montague Island.
Fast drift over a boulder plateau east of the seal colony – experienced divers only.
Ride gentle surge through shallow swim-throughs at the Tollgate Islands, with grey nurse sharks passing.
Surprisingly rich muck/critter shore dive right in the river mouth; tropical juveniles recruit here in summer and…
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