Fairlight is Manly's harbour shore dive, the quiet alternative to Cabbage Tree Bay on the sheltered side of the peninsula, and one of the most-used training sites in Sydney. The suburb's waterfront is a strip of the Manly Scenic Walkway with a small netted beach and, to the east below Fairlight Crescent, a rock platform from which divers flop into water barely three metres deep. The bottom slopes gently over kelp to about 5 m, drops over a very small wall to 7 m, and then follows a prominent north–south wall that holds 8–9 m along its length, with cracks, overhangs and the bright-green formations that the VIZ club notes as characteristic.

Two wrecks lie here: a large aluminium speedboat from 1952 with twin engines and propellers about 145 m off the beach, and a smaller aluminium boat close by, and a starboard channel-marker pile marks the reef edge. South, a boulder field runs toward Delwood Beach and sand begins about 200 m east of the reef. It is inside the North Harbour Aquatic Reserve, and the fish life reflects it: ladder-finned pomfret, yellowtail, old wives, stripeys, long-snouted boarfish, tiny boxfish, leatherjackets and bream on every dive; Port Jackson sharks from July to October; a resident two-metre wobbegong and its juveniles; eagle rays over the sand; lionfish and other tropical visitors in autumn; cuttlefish and nudibranchs in the cracks.

The wall carries pink and orange sponges and, unusually for the harbour, Gabo Island soft corals. Its virtues are shelter and ease: it works when the ocean is too dangerous, the entries are simple at high tide, depths are gentle, and it is a first-rate night dive. Its limitation is visibility, seldom better than 4–6 m.

Fairlight suits Open Water trainees, night divers, and anyone in Manly on a day when the swell is up; local operators guide it several times a week.

From Manly take Sydney Road west, turn into Lauderdale Avenue and then Fairlight Crescent; park near the first intersection (free street parking, busier on weekends) where a signposted access track leads down to the waterfront. Walk down, veer right across the grass past a seat and cross the rock platform to the water – about 100 m with gear. Alternatively park at Fairlight Beach (Lauderdale Avenue) and enter from the sand beside the netted pool; the Manly Scenic Walkway links the two.

Exit onto the beach sand or back onto the platform near the entry; at low tide the southern exit is awkward and a narrow channel through the reef must be found.

Fairlight faces south-east across North Harbour toward the Heads and is sheltered from the north-easter and from most ocean swell, which makes it the standard fallback when Shelly Beach and the ocean are rough; a very large southerly or south-easterly swell pushes surge through the Heads and onto the reef, and a strong southerly wind chops it up. Best at or near high tide, when the shallow reef and the entries have water over them and the flood has brought cleaner harbour water; low tide makes the southern exit difficult. Visibility is modest, typically 4 m and rarely above 10 m, worst after rain.

Ferry wash from the Manly ferries passing 500 m off is felt on the platform.

Descend off the platform in under 3 m and head east-south-east over kelp to 5 m, drop over the small wall to 7 m and follow the main north–south wall south at 8–9 m past the overhangs to the twin-engined 1952 aluminium speedboat about 145 m from shore and the smaller boat nearby, continuing to the boulder field toward Delwood Beach if air allows. Return north along the wall at 5–6 m and finish over the kelp; surface near the platform or beach because of boat traffic.

Dive Centre Manly – guided shore dives and night dives most weeks; Pro Dive Manly and Frog Dive – guided dives and course dives ('green level'); Sydney Dive Charters shore-dive option; heavily used for Open Water training and by independent divers.