Anchor Bommie takes its name from a huge old admiralty-pattern anchor that sits in the sand beside the bommie at about 19 m, now covered in soft corals. The bommie itself stands about 7 m tall and hosts a manta ray cleaning station, making it one of several western-side sites where mantas are regularly seen. The anchor is a relic of the island's shipwreck history; Lady Elliot's reefs claimed many vessels before and after the lighthouse was built in 1873.

Today it provides a striking photographic subject, with soft corals and fish covering its flukes and shank. Macro life is excellent: anemone shrimp, Durban hinge-beak shrimp and colourful anthias crowd the bommie, and garden eels rise from the sand at its base. Fish swirl around the structure, and when mantas are in the area they visit the cleaning station on top.

Depth is similar to the nearby Three Pyramids, and the site is sheltered in the prevailing south-easterlies, so it is suitable for Open Water divers. Photographers should plan for both macro, on the bommie, and wide-angle, for the anchor and mantas. As at all Lady Elliot cleaning stations, the best encounters come from staying low and still, a few metres away from the bommie, and letting the mantas come in.

Lady Elliot's reefs sit within a Marine National Park (Green) Zone, and the island itself has been restored from a nineteenth-century guano-mining past by decades of revegetation, so the site reflects a well-protected ecosystem. Leave the anchor exactly as it is: it is part of the island's maritime heritage, and its soft-coral cover is easily damaged by divers resting on it or holding it for photographs.

Lady Elliot Island is the southernmost coral cay of the Great Barrier Reef, about 80 km north-east of Bundaberg, and is reached only by the resort's light aircraft from Bundaberg, Hervey Bay, Brisbane (Redcliffe) or the Gold Coast (baggage limit about 15-16 kg, extra dive-gear weight bookable). From the airstrip, walk to the resort dive shop; boats are launched from the western beach or the lighthouse side and all dive sites are 10 minutes or less by boat. Anchor Bommie is on the western side, a few minutes by boat; dived from a mooring.

The island has a western (lee) side and an eastern (windward) side. Under the prevailing south-east trades the western sites (Lighthouse Bommies, Coral Gardens, the Severance) are sheltered and dived most days; the eastern wall sites (Blowhole, Tubes, Hiro's Cave) need light winds or a westerly/northerly. Swell over about 2 m from the south-east closes the eastern side, and strong northerlies (spring/summer) make the west choppy.

Tidal range is about 2-3 m; currents are strongest at the southern tip. Summer brings warmer water but more plankton and occasional cyclones (November-April). Western sites are the default in the prevailing south-easterlies; they become choppy in strong northerlies or westerlies.

Descend the mooring to the anchor at about 19 m, inspect it and the base of the bommie for garden eels and macro subjects, then rise to the cleaning station on the bommie and wait for mantas. Ascend the bommie for the second half and finish on the mooring.

Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort's PADI dive shop is the only operator: guided boat dives twice daily (early morning and afternoon, bookings open the day before), plus courses; boat rides are 10 minutes or less and all sites are moored. Day-trip packages from Bundaberg, Hervey Bay and the Gold Coast include diving. The resort does not offer shore dives.