Camp Cove is where Governor Phillip's party first camped in Port Jackson in January 1788, and it has been the eastern suburbs' default easy dive for as long as there have been dive schools. The beach faces north-west into the harbour just inside South Head, protected from the ocean by the headland and from the southerly by the ridge behind, and the water is shallow, clean and generally gentle. The dive has three parts, as Diveplanit puts it: sand, a low reef and a wall.

From the beach the clean sand slopes to 4–5 m; to the south a low sandstone reef wall with kelp-covered rocks runs out to a corner at 6–8 m, and near it lies a jumble of small rocks that were the base of the original Water Police wharf; to the north, kelp rocks and sand lead toward Green Point. Champagne bottles and other litter from a century of picnics are everywhere. The animals are small and abundant.

White's seahorses live in the kelp on the rocks; velvetfish, smooth flutemouth, old wives, fan-bellied leatherjackets, pipefish, eastern kelpfish and moon wrasse are regular; blue-ringed octopus, cuttlefish, squid and blue swimmer crabs are common at night, and squid have been watched hunting small fish under torchlight; stingarees and small rays lie on the sand; in autumn the East Australian Current fills the kelp with juvenile butterflyfish and damselfish. Abyss describes it as 'great visibility on the right day' and a beginner-friendly night dive, and Frog Dive lists octopus, wobbegongs, seahorses and morays. It is a training and night-dive site above all, and its only real hazards are the boats that anchor and manoeuvre in the cove all summer – the local rule is never to ascend from the reef, even if separated from a buddy, but to return to the beach underwater – and the litter.

Facilities are good: car park, toilets, a kiosk with a tap for rinsing, a shower by the steps. Camp Cove suits beginners, snorkellers, night divers and macro photographers, and it pairs with Green Point or the Watsons Bay pool for a second dive.

Follow Old South Head Road/New South Head Road to Watsons Bay and continue along Cliff Street to Camp Cove; a small car park sits at the top of the beach steps at the end of Cliff Street (fills by mid-morning on weekends; metered street parking in Cliff Street and Pacific Street). Toilets are at the top of the stairs nearest the car park. Carry gear down the short flight of steps to the sand – 50 m.

Enter from the beach and swim out; the reef wall and old wharf rubble lie to the south (left) and the sand and kelp rocks to the north toward Green Point. Exit onto the beach near the kiosk, where a tap rinses sand off, and a shower is below the nearest wooden steps.

Inside South Head the ocean swell is broken; the eastern harbour shore dives are exposed only to wind chop and, in the case of Camp Cove and Green Point, to a north-westerly or northerly blow that puts a short sea onto the beaches. They are at their best in a southerly, which flattens them completely, and on the top of a flood tide when clean ocean water has come in through the Heads (visibility 5–10 m; 15 m on a rare winter day). After heavy rain the harbour is brown for days and the dives are not worth doing.

Boat and ferry traffic is intense on summer weekends and public holidays, when the bays fill with anchored craft; early mornings, weekdays and nights are the times to dive.

Enter from the middle of the beach, descend in 2–3 m and head south along the low reef wall, searching the kelp on the rocks for seahorses, past the jumble of small rocks from the old Water Police wharf to the reef corner at 6–8 m; continue south over sand, turn east toward the beach and follow the shore back north to exit near the kiosk. Never ascend from the reef because of boats – surface only at the beach.

Abyss Scuba Diving, Dive 2000, Pro Dive Coogee and Frog Dive – course dives, guided dives and night dives most weeks ('green level'); Dive Centre Manly occasionally; heavily used by independent divers and snorkellers.