Magic Point is Sydney's grey nurse shark dive. On the headland at the southern end of Maroubra Beach an east–west wall runs out from the rocks, and set into it at about 15 m is a broad cave running roughly 15 m back to a 5 m deep western end. Grey nurse sharks – mostly females, from a metre to well over three – hang in and in front of this cave, drifting out along the wall and back.

Counts of four to eighteen are typical and 26 were recorded in July 2008. The area immediately in front of the cave is kept clear of kelp by the sharks' movement and is the natural viewing position; a second overhang 30 m to the south-east sometimes holds more animals. The wall itself continues north–south through the shark area, turns south-east and then south, with the bottom stepping from 20 m to 15 m and 8 m towards the rocks.

Around the sharks swirl enormous schools of yellowtail with remoras and pilot fish, and giant cuttlefish, weedy seadragons in the kelp and big smooth and black rays on the sand are regular. Grey nurse sharks are critically endangered on the east coast and Magic Point is a declared critical habitat site, so a code of conduct applies: no more than ten divers at the cave, no strobes or torches into it, no touching or blocking the entrance, no scooters. The species' fragility here was demonstrated when crowding by multiple charter boats drove the sharks away for over a decade from 2013; they have been returning since 2024 and operators now stagger visits.

Because the sharks scatter when boats stack up, the dive is best done early, quietly, and briefly – twenty to twenty-five minutes is enough – usually as the shallow second dive after Wedding Cake Island, The Colours or a Malabar-side reef. It is suitable for Open Water divers with good buoyancy, and it remains the one place in metropolitan Sydney to see these animals reliably.

Boat only. From Botany Bay head out of the heads and turn north, past Long Bay and the MV Malabar wreck and the Long Bay Rifle Range, until Maroubra Beach opens up – about 6 km and 20–30 minutes from the Cooks River/Kyeemagh or Foreshore Road ramps; Pro Dive Coogee and Abyss run charters from La Perouse/Botany Bay, Dive Centre Bondi and Frog Dive come south from the Harbour (12 km). Anchor in the shallows west of the cave in southerly winds or in deeper water to the east in northerlies, and descend the line to the wall at 15–20 m.

There is no shore access.

Reasonably sheltered by the headland from southerly swell, which is one reason the sharks like it; north-easterly swell and wind push straight onto the wall and make anchoring in the shallows impossible. Anything over about 1.5–2 m from the south-east or east creates surge in the 8–15 m zone in front of the cave. Visibility is consistently 15–20 m.

The most important condition is human: the sharks leave when several charter boats crowd the site, and after years of heavy traffic they were largely absent from 2013 to 2024. Dive it early, quietly, and keep to the grey nurse code of conduct – no strobes in the cave, no blocking the entrance, stay low and still.

Descend to 20 m and rise up the wall to the cave at 15 m; settle on the cleared area 5 m in front of the entrance and watch – the sharks patrol in and out along the wall. After 10–15 minutes move 30 m south-east to the second overhang, then follow the wall south and back. Twenty to twenty-five minutes is enough; do not enter the cave or hover above it.

Pro Dive Coogee (most days in season), Abyss Scuba Diving, Dive Centre Bondi, Frog Dive, Sydney Dive Academy and Southern Cross Divers all run grey nurse dives here, typically as the second dive of a double; St George Scuba Club by private boat.