Manta Bommie is North Stradbroke Island's most famous dive, ranked by Manta Lodge among the top 10 dive sites in Australia and described by marinelife.org.au as about the most popular dive in South East Queensland. It is a rocky reef bommie with small caves, walls and sand patches in 5-18 m, about 10 minutes from Point Lookout, and its reputation rests on one thing: between November and April, manta rays come to the bommie to be cleaned. Cleaner wrasse and other small fish work on the mantas as they hover over the reef, and divers who stay low and still can watch them circle overhead, sometimes several at a time.

The site offers much more than mantas. Leopard sharks gather on the sand in summer, shovelnose rays (guitar sharks) and wobbegong and bamboo sharks rest on the bottom, turtles are common, and bull rays and eagle rays glide past. The rocks are covered in hard and soft corals and home to octopus, moray eels, lionfish and hundreds of tropical species.

Australia Dive notes it can be run as a drift when the current is up. In winter, the mantas are gone, but visibility improves and the bommie becomes a spectacular general reef dive; grey nurse sharks and humpback whales are around in the colder months. Adreno warns that heavy surge is the main challenge, so it is best dived on calm days.

With easy depths and a short boat ride, it suits divers of all levels, and for many visitors it is the reason to come to Straddie.

Drive to Cleveland (about 40 minutes from Brisbane) and take the SeaLink vehicle ferry or a passenger water taxi across to Dunwich on North Stradbroke Island, then drive about 20 km (25 minutes) east to Point Lookout. Manta Lodge & Scuba Centre at Point Lookout runs the dives, beach-launching its boats and reaching the Point Lookout sites in roughly 5-15 minutes. Brisbane operators (Brisbane Scuba from Manly, Gold Coast Dive Adventures from Runaway Bay) also run occasional day trips.

Manta Bommie is about 10 minutes from the dive centre, close to the boat launching sites.

Manta Bommie is inshore but exposed to swell; heavy surge in easterly or north-easterly swell over about 1.5-2 m is the main limitation. Current is minimal to medium and can be used for a drift. Visibility ranges from a few metres after summer storms to 20-30 m in winter.

Manta season (summer) coincides with northerly sea breezes and storms, so early-morning dives are best.

Descend to the sand at 12-15 m beside the bommie, then position yourself low and still near the cleaning stations on the reef top at 5-10 m and wait for mantas, keeping clear of their approach path. Explore the caves and wall for the rest of the dive and return to the mooring.

Manta Lodge & Scuba Centre – daily, especially in manta season; Brisbane Scuba (Manly) and Gold Coast Dive Adventures – day trips.