Anemone Bay, on the sheltered northern side of North Solitary Island, has built a reputation among Australian divers as one of the very best places in the country to see anemonefish, with local and visiting divers alike describing it as holding the densest carpets of anemones — and by extension the largest resident population of clownfish — anywhere on the mainland coast. The bay sits in the lee of the island, which keeps it workable even when southerly swell is making other sections of North Solitary too rough, and the site's sheltered aspect is part of why such extensive, undisturbed anemone beds have been able to establish here. Depths in the main part of the bay run a comfortable 15 to 25 m over sand and low reef thickly carpeted with anemones hosting Clark's, red and false clown anemonefish among others, while a shear wall on the eastern side of the bay drops away to nearly 30 m for those wanting a deeper extension to the dive.

Away from the anemones, the site holds a strong general reef-fish population along with cuttlefish, wobbegong sharks, and — in the warmer months — the occasional manta ray moving through, plus turtles and grouper using the surrounding structure. Cleaning stations dotted through the bay attract larger fish and are a reliable spot to hover and watch interactions play out. Wooli Dive Centre, run for decades by Stan Young and widely regarded by visiting divers as one of the best small operations in NSW, is the only way to reach the site with any regularity, running a purpose-built jet-propulsion vessel able to cross the shallow, shifting Wooli River bar that would stop a conventional trailer boat.

The 75-minute run each way means a full-day commitment, and the trip is genuinely at the mercy of the weather given how exposed North Solitary Island is compared with the more sheltered Coffs Harbour dive grounds further south. For anyone serious about clownfish photography or simply wanting to see one of the country's best anemone aggregations, though, Anemone Bay justifies the distance and the wait for the right conditions.

Wooli Dive Centre is the only operator serving this section of coast and departs from the Wooli River wharf in the small village of Wooli, reached via Wooli Way off the Pacific Highway/Grafton-Wooli Road. The river mouth has a shallow, shifting bar that the operator's purpose-built jet-propulsion vessel (able to run in very shallow water) is specifically equipped to cross; private trailer boats should not attempt this bar without strong local knowledge. From the wharf it is roughly 25 minutes to North Solitary Island's southern sites and up to 90 minutes to Pimpernel Rock in the north of the marine park, weather dependent.

Wooli Dive Centre requires a minimum group size (around six divers) to run a charter to the more remote sites.

North Solitary Island and Pimpernel Rock sit fully in the open ocean north of the more sheltered Coffs Harbour grounds, so trips depend on a genuinely settled weather window — under about 1.5 m swell and light-to-moderate winds — and are cancelled more often than the South Solitary Island trips run from Coffs. The Wooli River bar itself is shallow and can be dangerous in a big swell or a strong outgoing tide; the dive centre's shallow-draft, high-powered vessel is built specifically to manage it, but the bar can still close the operation down on a bad day. Visibility offshore is normally excellent, in the order of 15-30 m, but summer brings warmer water (up to 25°C) with more current from the East Australian Current, while winter is cooler (down to about 18-19°C) but often calmer.

Cyclone-influenced swells from the Coral Sea can affect this coast in late summer/early autumn even without a direct cyclone hit.

Descend onto the shallow reef at 15-18 m near the mooring, work slowly through the anemone gardens looking for the different clownfish species and their hosts, extend toward the shear wall on the eastern side if conditions allow for the deeper 25-30 m section, and return shallow for an extended, unhurried ascent.

Wooli Dive Centre (Stan Young) runs trips to North Solitary Island as sea conditions and group numbers allow, typically three dives across two tanks in a day; this is the closest operator base to the site, well ahead of trips run from Coffs Harbour.