Burkitt's Reef is Bargara's home reef – the broad fringe of basalt and coral that sits right in front of the township and wraps around the small headland separating Bargara Beach from Kelly's Beach. Its great advantage over the other Woongarra shore dives is the entry: instead of scrambling over volcanic boulders you walk in off a sandy beach, which makes it the fallback site when surge makes the rock platforms at Barolin and Hoffman's too dangerous.

The reef is large and fairly shallow. A boulder margin and coral gardens surround the headland, with small bommies and isolated coral patches scattered on the sand beyond the main reef, bottoming out around 8-9 m. The 2011 Burnett River flood killed an estimated 56% of the hard coral here, and today the reef is dominated by soft corals, with hard corals slowly recolonising. Look closely and the invertebrate life is excellent: Christmas-tree tube worms, anemones with anemonefish, sea stars, feather stars, shrimps, crabs and plenty of nudibranchs. Honeycomb morays and ornate crayfish occupy the ledges, while ornate and tasselled wobbegongs and even greater bamboo sharks rest under overhangs.

Burkitt's has a reputation for pelagic visits. Marinelife.org.au reports schools of barracuda, trevally and even queenfish cruising the outer edge, and bluespotted maskrays, eastern shovelnose rays, olive sea snakes, gropers and turtles are regular. The trade-off for the easy entry is a longer surface swim and a site more exposed to boat traffic and swimmers near the patrolled beach. Visibility is typically a little lower than at Barolin because the site sits closer to the Burnett River mouth.

It suits beginners, snorkellers and divers wanting a relaxed, shallow macro dive with town facilities on hand – and it is the easiest night dive on the coast to organise.

Drive 15 km east from Bundaberg along Bargara Road into Bargara and park along the Esplanade near the town centre. Nigel Marsh recommends entering at the small beach boat ramp at the southern end of Bargara Beach, which lets you avoid crossing the shallow rocky reef flat; marinelife.org.au describes entering from Shelley Beach with a surface swim. Gear carry from the Esplanade parking is about 50-100 m on flat ground.

The reef wraps around the headland, so a one-way dive with a walk back from Kelly's Beach is an option. Bargara's cafes, toilets and showers are all within a couple of minutes' walk of the entry.

The Woongarra Coast faces east-north-east onto Hervey Bay's northern approaches and is sheltered from big southerly ocean swell by K'gari, so the shore sites are diveable most of the year; Burkitt's sandy entry makes it the fallback when surge makes the rock-platform sites unsafe to enter. What spoils them is wind: anything over about 15 knots from the south-east to north-east stirs up surge on the rock platforms and drops visibility to a few metres. The Burnett and Elliott rivers and local creeks flush brown water along the coast after heavy rain (mostly December-March), so allow several dry days.

Winter (May-September) brings light westerly or south-westerly land breezes, flat seas and the best visibility (6-12 m, occasionally 15 m). Enter and exit around mid-to-high tide to cut the rock scramble; low spring tides expose long stretches of slippery volcanic rock. Early mornings before the north-easterly sea breeze are calmest in summer.

Enter at the boat ramp and surface swim or snorkel out over the shallow flat until you reach 3-4 m at the reef edge, then descend and follow the outer margin of the reef, weaving between the small bommies and coral patches at 5-8 m. Turn on a third of your gas and return along the inner edge. Keep a compass bearing back to the ramp and surface well clear of the swimming area.

Safety stop over the reef at 5 m.

No operator needed – independent shore dive. Bundaberg Aqua Scuba (Bourbong St, Bundaberg) hires gear and tanks, gives current conditions advice and runs guided shore dives and courses here on request (less often than Barolin Rocks); Bundaberg Dive Academy and visiting clubs also use the site for training and night dives.