Anchors Away is a Bougainville Reef wall site described by marinelife.org.au as steep walls with crevices, at depths of 10–28 m, where old anchors from wrecks are embedded in the walls. It is a small piece of the reef's maritime history: Bougainville's isolated position in the shipping approaches to the northern Great Barrier Reef has caught many vessels, and the anchors, lost in attempts to kedge off or hold position, are now overgrown by coral.

The wall is steep and cut with crevices and ledges. The anchors, heavily encrusted and sometimes hard to distinguish from the reef, are the main talking point, and finding them is part of the dive. The sources do not say how many there are, which ships they came from or how old they are, so the crew briefing is the best guide.

Marinelife.org.au lists moray eels, squirrelfish, basslets, goatfish, rock cod and Maori wrasse. The crevices hold morays and squirrelfish, basslets (anthias) swarm along the wall face, and Maori wrasse cruise past. As at every Bougainville site, reef sharks are likely along the drop-off, and the clear oceanic water gives visibility of 20–40 m.

Anchors Away suits intermediate divers and offers a moderate-depth wall dive with a historical twist. It is not on the current Mike Ball itinerary pages, so it may be dived only occasionally. Any artefacts at the site are protected as underwater cultural heritage in Commonwealth waters if more than 75 years old and must not be disturbed or removed. Photographs are the only souvenir.

Liveaboard only. Mike Ball's Spoilsport visits Bougainville on its 4-night Osprey fly-dive (Cairns departure Thursday evening, return by flight from Lizard Island), 5-night Coral Sea & Cod Hole and 7-night Coral Sea expeditions; the overnight run from Cairns is roughly 230 km of open ocean. Bougainville is not guaranteed on every itinerary and is usually allocated one day.

Anchors Away is dived from a mooring or tender drop at the crew's discretion.

Bougainville is a small, isolated Coral Sea reef about 230 km north-east of Cairns and 150 km south of Osprey, with no land to shelter behind, so the surface can be choppy in any SE trade wind over about 20 knots, common June to August. Conditions broadly follow Osprey's, though Bougainville is sometimes calmer when Osprey is windy. Currents are generally mild but can pick up on the corners and walls.

September to December usually gives the calmest seas and best visibility (20–40 m); December to April is cyclone season.

Descend to the wall at 15–20 m and follow it, looking for the old anchors wedged in the coral and the crevices where morays and squirrelfish hide. Ascend to 10 m along the wall and finish on the reef top.

Coral Sea liveaboards visiting Bougainville (Mike Ball Dive Expeditions) – occasional.