The Roy Rufus Artificial Reef is Hervey Bay's most popular dive site. Development began in 1968, and by 1987 about 63 separate drops had been made – old car bodies, concrete pipes, railway wheels, tyres, barges and ships – over an area described as around 3 km² off the eastern side of Big Woody Island. The reef is named after Roy Rufus, a local diver, fisherman and conservationist who drove the project.

Among the structures are several historic hulls. Marinelife.org.au lists the Pelican (1880), Otter (1884), Lass O'Gowrie (1885) and K'gari (1897), plus the Goori. Three of them – the Otter, Pelican and Lass O'Gowrie – lie close together and are joined by picket lines at 14-17 m, so all three can be seen in one dive; the Goori and K'gari hulls each sit at about 16 m. Between them lie barges, car bodies and other debris, some of which appear and disappear as the sand shifts.

The reef's life is the draw. Visit Fraser Coast and marinelife.org.au list wobbegongs, stingrays, turtles, gropers, coral trout, kingfish, sea snakes and a crowd of reef fish, and the growth on the old steel is dense with scorpionfish and stonefish – a good reason to keep hands off everything. Penetration is limited, but the encrusting life makes the exteriors rewarding.

Conditions shape the dive. The reef lies in the Great Sandy Strait, where tides run strongly, so it is dived only around high tide, and visibility averages about 5 m and rarely exceeds 10 m. That makes navigation between structures challenging and is why the picket lines matter. Visit Fraser Coast pitches it at experienced divers; with a guide from Hervey Bay Dive Centre it is manageable for Open Water divers comfortable in limited visibility.

Individual structure groups have separate rows in this database.

Hervey Bay's boat dives leave from Urangan Boat Harbour (Great Sandy Straits Marina / Boat Club Marina, Buccaneer Drive, Urangan), at the eastern end of Hervey Bay's Esplanade about 10 minutes' drive from Pialba; there is free parking at the marina and a public boat ramp in the harbour. Hervey Bay Dive Centre runs its local wreck and reef trips from here. The Roy Rufus Artificial Reef lies off the eastern side of Big Woody Island, about 4.5 nm east of Urangan Harbour – 15-20 minutes by boat.

Individual structures are marked by GPS; anchor in sand beside them, never on the wrecks. Departure times are set to reach the site at high-water slack.

Hervey Bay lies in the lee of K'gari, so ocean swell is rarely a problem; the limits are wind, tide and visibility. South-east trades over about 15-20 knots kick up a steep, short chop across the bay, and strong northerlies do the same in summer. Tides in the Great Sandy Strait run hard, so dives are timed for high-water slack – the Roy Rufus reef is dived only around high tide – and neap tides give the calmest water and best visibility.

Visibility is modest, typically 5 m and rarely above 10 m, and drops further after rain when the Mary River and creeks discharge into the bay (December-March). Winter (June-October) is generally calmer and clearer, and coincides with humpback whale season.

Pick a target – most often the '3 Ships' cluster, where the Otter, Pelican and Lass O'Gowrie are joined by picket lines at 14-17 m, or the Goori or K'gari hulls at about 16 m. Descend the line at high-tide slack, tour the structure slowly, keeping hands off (stonefish and scorpionfish hide in the growth), and follow the picket lines between hulls rather than swimming off across open sand. Return to the line before the tide turns and do a safety stop on it.

Hervey Bay Dive Centre (Urangan Harbour) – 'Local Wreck Dives' trips to the Roy Rufus Artificial Reef and nearby sites (Goori, 3 Ships, K'gari, Iron Maria, Hardie and Simpson reefs, Snapper Grounds, Moon Ledge) on demand, timed to the high-tide slack; private boats also use the site.