Tupia Point is the headland at the southern end of Long Bay, named for the Tahitian navigator who sailed with Cook, and the reef off it is one of the most cave-riddled pieces of seabed on the Eastern Suburbs coast. Because the point is steep, the reef is very narrow: close in it drops from the rock platform to 5 m and then quickly away, and the sand at 22 m is only about twenty metres off the rocks. Everything in between is large boulders, and where they lean on each other they form what McFadyen describes as swim-throughs, caves and tunnels 'everywhere', ranging from tight squeezes to large tunnels a diver can swim comfortably through.

In a small inlet at 8 m lies wreckage he believes is the funnel and built-in boiler of the MV Malabar, which struck the northern headland of Long Bay in 1931 – either drifted across the bay or rolled there by sea action; the NSW shipwreck database does not record it. Fish life is prolific: yellowtail, ladder-finned pomfrets, nannygai and seapike in dense schools over the boulders, black reef, six-spined and rough leatherjackets, large cuttlefish and moray eels in the tunnels. Sponge and sea-squirt growth is healthy because the site is rarely visited.

The difficulty is entirely logistical. The reef is too narrow to anchor on in any southerly or easterly wind, so it is often done as a drift with a live boat, and no charter operator comes here. For private-boat divers from Botany Bay on a flat day it is an outstanding boulder-and-tunnel dive within 15 minutes of the heads, and a natural pairing with the MV Malabar wreck or Yellow Rock a few hundred metres north.

Private boat only. Launch in Botany Bay, run out past Cape Banks and turn north; the point is about 3 km up the coast, just south of Long Bay, below the boundary of the two golf courses – about 15 minutes from the heads. Run in towards the rock platform and drop anchor as soon as the reef shows on the sounder; the reef is very narrow so in southerly or easterly winds anchoring is unsafe and it is better run as a drift with the boat following.

No charter visits.

The reef is a narrow strip against the cliff line and the sand at 22 m is only about 20 m off the platform, so there is nowhere to anchor safely in southerly or easterly winds and swell – run it as a drift or pick another day. Flat seas and a westerly are ideal; north-easterlies are tolerable in the morning. The shallows and the inlet with the Malabar wreckage at 8 m are surge zones in any swell.

Visibility good after westerlies, reduced after rain.

Descend to the reef edge at 18–22 m and work along it, then move up into the boulder maze between 8 and 15 m where the tunnels and swim-throughs are concentrated, threading through as many as your buddy team is comfortable with. Look for the funnel and boiler wreckage in the small inlet at 8 m before finishing shallow and ascending under an SMB.

No regular charter – private boat or dive-club (St George Scuba Club) only