Little Broadhurst Reef lies in the Broadhurst group east of Townsville, and its best-known site is Barra Bommie, which the Marine Life Network singles out as an excellent night dive on overnight charter trips. The Broadhurst reefs are part of the mid-to-outer shelf band that Townsville liveaboards worked through the 1980s and 1990s. Neighbouring Broadhurst Reef is described as having pinnacles, cracks and crevices teeming with fish and covered with hard and soft corals, sea whips and gorgonians, and Barra Bommie is likely to share that character: a free-standing coral head rising from sand or rubble, with overhangs and crevices around its base and a shallow top.

At night, such bommies are ideal: sleeping parrotfish in mucus cocoons, hunting moray eels, painted crayfish and slipper lobsters, shrimps, crabs, feather stars open to feed and, if lucky, a Spanish dancer or cuttlefish. A bommie is also simple to navigate in the dark – down the anchor line, around the base and back up the sides – which is why charter skippers favour sites like this for the night dive. Access is only by overnight or multi-day charter; the reef is well outside day-trip range.

The name suggests past sightings of barramundi cod or barracuda but this is not documented. Before relying on this site, confirm its exact location and status with a charter operator. It is included here because it appears in regional site listings and is part of the documented Townsville reef system.

Boat only, and beyond normal day-trip range. The outer Townsville reefs lie 90–130 km offshore; they are reached by liveaboard or extended charter from Breakwater Marina, Townsville (typically an overnight steam or 3–4+ hours by fast vessel), sometimes combined with the Yongala on multi-day itineraries. Private skippers need a capable offshore vessel, long-range fuel, EPIRB and a settled forecast, and should launch from the Townsville Breakwater or Ross River ramps.

There is no shelter on the passage and anchoring must be on sand, never coral.

The Townsville mid-shelf reefs sit fully exposed to the south-east trade winds, which blow 15–25 knots for long stretches from April to September. Operators generally cancel when winds exceed about 20 knots or a strong wind warning is current, and the 2–2.5 hour crossing is rough above 15 knots. The calmest windows are the late-spring and early-summer glassouts (October–December) and occasional winter high-pressure lulls.

Visibility is usually 12–25 m, dropping after big south-easterly blows and after wet-season floods from the Burdekin and Herbert rivers push turbid plumes offshore (January–April). Marine stinger season (box jellyfish and Irukandji) runs roughly November to May – wear a full-length stinger suit or wetsuit with hood and gloves, carry vinegar. Cyclone season November–April; tropical lows and cyclones can close sites and damage coral (TC Yasi 2011, TC Debbie 2017).

Tidal currents around reef edges and bommies are strongest on spring tides; plan wall and pass dives near slack.

Night dive: descend the anchor line to the base of the bommie, spiral slowly up around it with torches, checking crevices for crustaceans and sleeping fish, and finish on the top in 3–5 m.

Overnight charters out of Townsville only; no scheduled operator. No scheduled day trips. Visited on occasional liveaboard and long-range charters out of Townsville (e.g.

Adrenalin Snorkel & Dive liveaboard/charter departures, private and club charters). Historically on Townsville liveaboard circuits of the 1980s–2000s.