East Point Reef is the shallow reef fringing East Point, the headland north of Fannie Bay that holds the East Point Reserve and the Darwin Military Museum. Just off the reef is a large area of coral bommies, soft corals and sponges in up to 8 m. DSAC highlights the large variety of small, colourful fish, and marinelife.org.au describes it as ideal for macro photographers, with sponges, hard and soft corals, sea whips and ascidians. Darwin's natural reefs are not the clear-water coral gardens of the Great Barrier Reef. The harbour is a macro-tidal, turbid system, and its reefs are low rock platforms and bommies covered in sponges, soft corals, gorgonians, sea whips and hardy hard corals that tolerate silt and big tidal flows. What they lack in visibility they make up for in density of life and the chance of turtles, rays and big fish.

The fish here are generally small: the reef is heavily and legally fished, and marinelife.org.au notes that visibility is often poor. The reason to dive is the invertebrate life and the convenience - East Point is close to town, and on a high neap it can be reached from shore by experienced local divers. It is a site for slow, close looking: nudibranchs, small crustaceans, gobies and juvenile fish among the sponges. Shore diving anywhere in Darwin needs extra thought because of crocodiles and box jellyfish, so most visitors will dive it from a boat with an operator. For locals, it is a good place to practise buoyancy and macro photography on a calm dry-season morning. The reserve itself has walking and cycling paths, WWII gun emplacements and good sunset views, making it an easy place to meet before or after a dive.

East Point Reserve is about 10 minutes' drive north of the CBD via Gilruth Avenue and East Point Road, with parking near the Darwin Military Museum and along the reserve roads. Shore entry is across the rocky reef flat, which dries a long way at low tide, so any shore dive must be at high water on a neap; expect a walk over rock with gear. Most divers use a boat from Cullen Bay (about 10 minutes around Emery Point).

The DSAC Barge and Dudley Bommies are nearby.

Tide is everything in Darwin Harbour: the spring range is 7-8 m and tidal streams run hard through the harbour, so diving is generally only possible on neap tides (range under about 3-4 m), timed to the slack at high water when clearer ocean water sits over the site. Spring tides bring strong currents and silt-laden water with near-zero visibility. The dry season (May-October) gives the most consistent conditions; the south-east trade winds can chop up exposed water in the afternoon, so mornings are best.

In the wet season (November-April) run-off from the rivers and creeks drops visibility, afternoon storms build quickly, and the harbour is in cyclone season; box jellyfish are present October-May.

Enter at high-water slack on a neap and swim slowly over the bommies at 5-8 m, focusing on small subjects. Stay close to the entry and be out of the water before the tide starts to fall.

Darwin Dive Centre and Dive Darwin use the harbour reefs for reef dives and training on neap-tide charters, often as a second dive after a wreck; Darwin Sub Aqua Club dives them on club days. No daily schedule.