The North-Eastern Bommie is a large rocky outcrop off the north-east of Maria Island, rated 7 out of 10 by the Marine Life Network guide. Depths range from 10 to 30 m, with splits in the rock full of fish and sheltered rock faces.

The standout feature is a 5 m-high rock face packed with yellow zoanthids. Bull kelp covers the top of the outcrop, and leatherjackets, wrasse, butterfly perch, banded morwong and long-finned pike are common.

The outcrop suits Advanced Open Water divers who want a deeper, more structured dive than the shallow reefs near Darlington. It can be combined with the Fossil Cliffs swim-through on the same trip, running back past Cape Boullanger for the second dive once the gas and surface interval allow.

Maria Island is a national park with no permanent residents apart from rangers, and the Darlington settlement preserves convict-era buildings from 1825 onwards. The marine reserve along the island's northern and western shores has been no-take since 1991 and has been used for long-term studies of how protection affects rock lobster and fish numbers, so reef life inside it is noticeably richer than outside.

Maria Island's boat sites are rarely visited because there is no operator on the island and the eastern coast is a long way from the Triabunna ramp. Visitors with their own boats should carry oxygen and a radio, check the forecast for Mercury Passage as well as the open coast, and remember that the Royal Hobart Hospital chamber is roughly two hours away by road once back at Triabunna.

Triabunna, on the Tasman Highway 1 hr 15 min (85 km) north-east of Hobart, is the gateway. The Maria Island passenger ferry (Encounter Maria Island) runs several times daily from Triabunna to the Darlington jetty, about 16 km and roughly 30-45 minutes; it carries people and small amounts of luggage but not vehicles, and dive cylinders should be cleared with the operator first. Private boats launch at the Triabunna ramp (best), Saltworks Road ramp, or Orford (shallow bar at the Prosser River mouth - difficult at low tide).

The bommie is off the north-east of the island beyond Cape Boullanger, around 40 minutes by boat from Triabunna.

Maria Island's western and northern shores (Darlington, Fossil Cliffs, Painted Cliffs) are sheltered from easterly ocean swell but exposed to strong westerlies and north-westerlies blowing across Mercury Passage, which are common in winter and spring. The eastern side (Mistaken Cape, Bunker Bay) faces the open Tasman Sea and needs westerly weather and small swell. Southerly swell wraps around Cape Peron and the southern end.

Visibility drops after rain as runoff flows from the Prosser River into Mercury Passage. The north-east corner is exposed to north-easterly swell and the summer sea breeze.

Descend onto the outcrop at 10-15 m, explore the splits and the zoanthid face, then circle the bommie deeper before rising for a safety stop. Turn the dive at half gas (thirds where current or overhead sections are involved), deploy an SMB before surfacing for the live-boat pick-up, and complete a 3-minute safety stop at about 5 m where depth allows.

No operator based on Maria Island. Hobart shops run occasional trips: Go Dive Tasmania has offered Ile des Phoques seal dives and filmed Troy D dives; Tasmanian Scuba Diving Club and Tas Uni Dive Club run club trips from Triabunna. Most diving is from private boats.