Sites where a certified diver, a snorkeller and a nervous first-timer can all get in at the same beach: shallow, sheltered, easy entry, plenty to see in the top five metres, and usually a car park, toilets and a café nearby.
Updated daily from the directory. 30 sites listed.
1. Merimbula · NSW
Merimbula Wharf
Easy shore dive with an exceptional critter list – sea dragons, seahorses, angel sharks and cuttlefish – beside an historic wharf.
2. Sydney South & Botany Bay · NSW
Gordons Bay
Australia's first underwater nature trail – a 620 m chain loop around a sheltered bay that makes a foolproof training or night dive.
3. Wollongong & Kiama · NSW
Bushrangers Bay
Protected amphitheatre bay with sea dragons, pygmy pipehorses, cuttlefish and seasonal grey nurse sharks – a no-take aquatic reserve.
4. Sydney Harbour · NSW
Camp Cove
Seahorses in the kelp, squid hunting under torchlight and 1788 history on a sheltered beach inside South Head – the eastern suburbs' classic night dive.
5. Sydney Harbour · NSW
Fairlight
A sheltered harbour wall with two small boat wrecks, soft corals and winter PJ sharks – Manly's all-weather training and night-dive site.
6. Sydney Northern Beaches · NSW
Fairy Bower
The dusky whaler side of Cabbage Tree Bay – a quiet, shallow wall-and-kelp reef along the Manly promenade that comes alive at night.
7. Sydney South & Botany Bay · NSW
Clovelly Pool / Clovelly Bay
Sydney's classic training and night-dive inlet with tame blue gropers and dense fish schools in 10–15 m visibility.
8. Sydney Northern Beaches · NSW
Shelly Beach / Cabbage Tree Bay (Manly)
The classic Sydney shore dive. A no-take aquatic reserve with blue gropers, dusky whalers in summer and easy entry.
9. Sydney Harbour · NSW
Balmoral Baths
Dozens of White's seahorses on the net of a Middle Harbour swimming enclosure in under 5 m – Sydney's easiest and most famous seahorse night dive.
10. Sydney South & Botany Bay · NSW
Oak Park (Cronulla)
Sydney's classic training and night dive: an arcing wall of low caverns, the Meditation Cave, sea dragons and famously friendly blue gropers.
11. Sydney Harbour · NSW
Manly Cove (Oceanworld nets)
White's seahorses on the swimming-net mesh two metres deep, 200 m from the Manly ferry – the easiest seahorse dive in Australia.
12. Lord Howe Island · NSW
Neds Beach
Knee-deep fish feeding with kingfish and drummer, then coral reef with turtles 30 m from the sand.
13. Central Coast · NSW
Terrigal Haven
The Central Coast's most accessible and heavily used dive site — a sheltered bay doubling as training ground and boat-charter departure point.
14. Lord Howe Island · NSW
North Bay
Secluded lagoon bay with coral, turtles and a 1965 tuna-boat wreck, reached only on foot or by boat.
15. Lord Howe Island · NSW
Favourite wreck (North Bay)
Engine, refrigeration piping and steel boxes of a 1965 tuna boat, overgrown with coral in shallow water.
16. Lord Howe Island · NSW
Old Settlement Beach
Snorkel with grazing green turtles in shallow water a few metres from the sand.
17. Lord Howe Island · NSW
Sylph's Hole
Shore snorkel in a sanctuary zone at the northern end of the lagoon, with turtles and endemic anemonefish.
18. Lord Howe Island · NSW
Blackburn Island
Paddle to the lagoon's grassy island, climb for the view and snorkel around its shores.
19. Narooma & Montague Island · NSW
Narooma Bar Beach
Sheltered, easy snorkel and dive with seahorses on the swimming net, diveable in almost any weather.
20. Central Coast · NSW
Toowoon Bay (Little Bay)
The Central Coast's favourite family snorkel: sheltered, shallow reef and weed in the southern corner of a patrolled bay.
21. Sydney Harbour · NSW
Little Manly Cove
A netted, seagrass-floored harbour cove with seahorses, octopus and penguins – the easiest night dive in Manly.
22. South West Rocks · NSW
Bait Reef (Trial Bay)
A small but exceptionally macro-rich reef off Trial Bay Gaol, prized locally for photography, night dives and its density of eels and nudibranchs.
23. Batemans Bay · NSW
Guerilla Bay
Easy, sheltered shore dive with a small island to circle, big stingrays and good night diving.
24. Jervis Bay · NSW
Scottish Rocks
Booderee's top snorkelling spot – clear water and sea dragons among quirky rock mounds.
25. Jervis Bay · NSW
Hyams Beach
Parallel reef ledges at 8–10 m with wobbegongs, a short swim from the famous white sand of Hyams Beach.
26. South West Rocks · NSW
Ladies Reef (South West Rocks)
South West Rocks' main shore and night-dive site — sheltered, shallow and reliable when the boat sites are blown out.
27. Coffs Harbour & Solitary Islands · NSW
Mutton Bird Island (Coffs Harbour)
An easy, boat-free island shore dive right at the end of Coffs Harbour's breakwall, with turtles, groper and good macro life on the sheltered inner side.
28. South West Rocks · NSW
Gaol Reef / Turtle Wall (Trial Bay)
An easy shore reef off Trial Bay Gaol with reliable juvenile turtles and wobbegongs resting in the open — ideal for beginners and snorkellers.
29. Central Coast · NSW
Cabbage Tree Bay (Norah Head)
A sheltered, easy bay dive beside the Norah Head boat ramp — ideal for training and beginners.
30. Port Stephens · NSW
Little Beach (Nelson Bay)
A sheltered, easy Nelson Bay shore dive with a novelty sunken playground at 6 m and marked lines to deeper macro-rich structure.
Frequently asked questions
Where can non-divers join in?
Any site marked snorkel-friendly. Cabbage Tree Bay at Manly, Port Noarlunga, the Mornington piers, Tangalooma, Lady Elliot's lagoon and Tinderbox are among the easiest.
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