We are lucky enough in Sydney to have some genuinely stunning diving that is easily accessible right from the shore. So, whether you are a Freediver, Scuba Diver or a casual Snorkeler then these 3 dive sites are a great way to see the local marine life without paying a lot of money to go on a boat.
As with any dive site, the weather plays a huge role in determining whether its going to be a good or a bad dive. There’s nothing worse than jumping in the water and you can barely see your hand in front of your face and it definitely makes things more dangerous and less enjoyable if you are constantly trying to see where your dive buddy is when Scuba Diving, or if you are Freediving you can’t see what you are looking for.
I will give a guide to each dive site on what you should look out for in a forecast to try and get the most out of your dive, what animals you can see at what time of year, and a few other pointers to get the most from your dive.
Another great place is the Facebook Group Sydney Viz, where divers post up to date reports on the current conditions. Although conditions can change very quickly, you get a feel from the reports for when a dive site is really ‘’on’’, and you should get your gear and jump in.
1. Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve. A.K.A- Shelly Beach, Manly.
The Dive Site
Above you can see how big the dive site is at Cabbage Tree Bay, and there are two main sides and two main points of entry for your diving.
Lefthand Side- Entry point either from Fairy Bower Lane or from Shelly Beach off the boat ramp
My preference is to enter from the steps at Fairy Bower Pool, for two reasons:
1. The parking here is usually a little better than at Shelly at peak times.
2. It is the best entry point to explore to the left towards the yellow shed/Manly beach and have enough time (air on scuba) to turn around and head towards Shelly Beach and then come back and exit again via the steps. You also have the option if you find something interesting and are low on air, to jump out at the boat ramp at the beach and walk back along the path to your car.
If you stay close to the wall in the kelp you will be around 2-5m deep and this is where you will find a lot of the Giant Cuttlefish in and around the kelp or resting under ledges. For photography I also love it because it’s shallow, and on a sunny day you get incredible sunlight rays penetrating through the water and with the schools of fish and the yellow kelp it is spectacular. If you swim further away from the kelp into the sand and sea grass, you can often find octopus in their holes, scorpion fish, sharks swimming around (in summer Dusky Whaler Sharks) and there have been known to be the fevers of Cownose Rays. This Is a little deeper around 6-7m and deeper the further into the middle you go.
Towards the yellow shed you will often see large schools of yellow tail, silver batfish and the odd Kingfish swimming around the schools. In season you can find free swimming as well as chilling Port Jackson Sharks (although the right side usually has a lot more) as well as small, medium and large Wobbegong sharks resting, or if you are lucky swimming around.
What To See
Cabbage Tree Bay has many seasonal visitors as well as some local residents who are present almost year round.
Autumn/Winter Season- April to September
This would be my favourite time to dive here, and I would rarely dive outside of this season unless some of the animals you encounter during this time come early, or extend their stay here.
The main drawcard is the Giant Cuttlefish: whilst there are sighting most of the year round, they are more common and in larger numbers during Autumn/Winter months.
During this time, you can witness many behaviours from hunting for food, to males fighting with each other during the breeding season and then actual mating between the male and females: an amazing sight where they mate face-to-face and the male passes his sperm into the female’s mouth to fertilise the eggs.
Port Jackson Sharks/Crested Horn Sharks are a very cute little shark (not remotely dangerous around 1-1.5m in length) that come to the bay in large numbers to mate, lay eggs and fight amongst each other just like the Giant Cuttlefish. As well as males wrestling with females, biting onto their pectoral fins to try and mate with them, it is also a time where you may see sharks eating the eggs of another shark (yes some sharks lay eggs) check out my video below, the spiral shaped object is a shark egg.
Year Round Visitors
We are luck enough to have several resident Green Sea Turtles who are now residing in Shelly, as well as several ones that are seen at times throughout the year.
Wobbegong Sharks can be found all around the bay throughout the year, as well as Octopus, Scorpion Fish, Blind Sharks, Catfish and a local favourite the Blue Groupers: who are sometimes very friendly and swim over to you to say hello.
2. Clifton Gardens. AKA Chowder Bay
· Macro photography dive
· Must have good buoyancy control- shallow dive, with silt bed
· Invariably low visibility- Often 3metres or less
· Harbour side dive, so protected from swells
· Depth ranges from 2-8m around the Jetty
The Dive Site
Being a harbourside dive site, there is a netted swimming pool and then a jetty off the end of the pool. The pool itself has a lot of sea grass and silty sand, where you can find lots of little critters buried in the sand and in the grass itself. Creatures like Bobtail and Pyjama Squid, Anglerfish, Blue Swimmer Crabs, Cuttlefish and many more.
As you enter the pool and swim over to the netted area, you can find creatures awaiting on the nets, along the nets, and on the legs of the jetty. You can find the endangered seahorse resting on the nets- sometimes half way up- Octopus buried in holes under the legs and all the previously mentioned animals can be found on the nets.
There are a couple of holes large enough in the nets to swim through to exit the swimming pool, and then make your way over to the Jetty and along towards the end. If you haven’t dived here before and the visibility is very low, it may be more advisable to enter outside of the pool and swim along the lefthand edge of the Jetty itself until you can get underneath it.
All along the sand line you can find many of the species mentioned, so its worth taking your time as you head down along the jetty. Underneath the Jetty is a classic muck dive, there you search among the rubble and can find anything, from Crocodile fish, velvet fish, lots of types of Nudibranchs, Various types of Anglerfish (striated, black, painted, yellow, orange, white and more). You can find Blue Lined Octopus underneath ledges, on the pier legs, sometimes next to Moray Eels who have made homes in the pier legs.
There are other areas to explore as seen in the map above, which are a lot further away from the Jetty. I personally don’t venture too far away from the Jetty as there is more than enough marine life to keep me occupied.
What To See
Octopus (gloomy, hammer), Anglerfish, Velvet fish, Nudibranchs, Bobtail Squid, Pyjama Squid, Squid, Cuttlefish (mourning and raper), Moray Eels, Cardinal Fish and Gobbleguts (often with eggs in their mouths), Hermit, Blue Swimmer, Red and Decorator Crabs, Seahares, Bobbit Worms, Blennys, Seahorse and much more.
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