Dive into NSW’s extraordinary underwater world, where marine sanctuaries and remarkable wildlife encounters await. From snorkelling with turtles to swimming beside migrating whales, here are the best adventures to explore the unique marine life up close.
- 4 min read
Discover what lies beneath the bay in Manly
When: all year
Take in the undulating underworld of Cabbage Tree Bay on a 2.5-hour snorkel with Ecotreasures. On this guided exploration in Manly’s protected aquatic reserve, swim up close to the diverse sea life of the bay including gropers, grey nurse sharks, sea dragons, wobbegongs, rays and more, observing the native marine life and Australian ecosystem as you explore. After your snorkel, head to The Boathouse Shelly Beach for a casual, beachside lunch where the menu focuses on modern Australian dishes and local seafood.
Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve, Manly
Snorkel with turtles at Cook Island
When: all year
Cook Island Aquatic Reserve is a volcanic outcrop less than 1km off the shore of Fingal Head in The Tweed. It’s here you’ll find a permanent population of green, hawksbill and loggerhead turtles, which you can swim alongside thanks to Watersports Guru.
Spending time among these majestic creatures is a real privilege, made even more special by a potential encounter with rays, wobbegongs or giant Queensland groupers, all local to the reserve. Keep an eye out for harmless leopard sharks, reef fish and hard and soft coral.
Cook Island Aquatic Reserve, Fingal Head
Free dive around Julian Rocks Nguthungull Nature Reserve
When: December to April
Sitting off the most easterly point of Australia and just a five-minute boat trip from Byron Bay, you’ll find Julian Rocks Nguthungull Nature Reserve. A convergence point of warm tropical and cooler temperate waters, it is a marine wildlife hotspot. Manta rays, leopard sharks and grey nurse sharks are all common sightings, as well as over 600 species of fish. Its protected, safe and shallow waters are perfect for snorkelling. Jump aboard Out Of The Blue Adventures’ purpose-built eco-vessel to learn about the region and wildlife from your marine biologist tour guide before snorkelling in this underwater playground.
Out Of The Blue Adventures, Ballina - Credit: Out Of The Blue Adventures
Feel tiny next to a humpback whale in Coffs Harbour
When: mid-August to September
Only operating early in the migration season when whales are at their most curious, Jetty Dive Centre offers snorkel trips where pods of humpback whales often swim alongside participants. While there are no guarantees with wild animals, this special tour is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Leaving from Coffs Harbour, the southern gateway to the Solitary Islands Marine Park, you will also see a unique mix of tropical and temperate fish during your swim. From June to October you can also join a whale-watching tour on their speedy boat which allows you to spend more time watching the whales than finding them.
Jetty Dive Centre, Coffs Harbour - Credit: Jetty Dive Centre
Join a dolphin pod in Port Stephens
When: October to April
Want to know how it feels to be part of a dolphin pod? Dolphin Swim Australia in Port Stephens delivers the next best thing. Board a 52-foot catamaran and sail out to sea, then drop yourself into the water, hang onto a rope that’s strung between the bows and glide through the water as the boat sets off again, your gliding body in tow. Dolphins are famous for being inquisitive, intelligent and playful, and you’ll discover exactly how they got that reputation as they dart around you and look you straight in the eye.
Dolphin Swim Australia, Port Stephens - Credit: Dolphin Swim Australia
Swim with seals at Baranguba Montague Island
When: all year; however, it is best to go during the cooler months when the seal colony peaks
Is there any creature more playful than a seal? One of the best places to see them in action is around Montague Island, 9km off Narooma in the Eurobodalla region on the South Coast. On an excursion with Montague Island Adventures and Narooma Charters you can snorkel or dive with Australian and New Zealand fur seals, get up close – whisker to whisker – with the curious mammals.
Montague Island, Narooma
Take a nighttime dip to see glowing coral at Lord Howe Island
When: summer
Lord Howe Island, a small island off the North Coast covered in lush greenery and surrounded by aquamarine waters, is home to an untouched coral reef teeming with marine life. This piece of paradise – one National Geographic named as one of the world’s best destinations – allows only 400 visitors at a time.
See the island’s reef in a less conventional way on a nighttime snorkel with Lord Howe Environmental Tours. This summer-only activity will see you hop aboard a glass-bottomed boat and set out into the island’s lagoon. Here you’ll explore the reef using special snorkelling equipment fitted with underwater torches that enable swimmers to view coral fluorescence (when the coral appears to be glowing) and any nocturnal creatures that join you on your swim. (The snorkel area is marked with illuminated markers to ensure you stick around the right spot.)
If you’d prefer to cruise among the coral during the day, book into the regular snorkelling tour.
Snorkelling, Lord Howe Island
Be in awe of the Brewarrina Fish Traps (Baiame's Ngunnhu)
When: all year
The Brewarrina Fish Traps (Baiame’s Ngunnhu) are known as one of the oldest human-made structures in the world. The traps, nearly half a kilometre long and estimated to be 40,000 years old, are an ingenious invention made up of complex networks of river stones arranged to form ponds and channels for Aboriginal people to catch fish. While exploring them isn’t precisely an underwater experience, it is one you truly won’t experience anywhere else in the world. The Brewarrina Aboriginal Cultural Museum conducts guided tours of the traps with local Aboriginal tour guides, though the traps can also be respectfully explored on a self-guided walk.
Brewarrina Fish Traps (Baiame's Ngunnhu), Brewarrina
Float among whales in Jervis Bay
When: June to October
Woebegone Freedive’s five- to six-hour snorkel-freedive expedition in the Jervis Bay Marine Park will see you enjoy up-close encounters with humpback whales up to 15m long (plus fur seals and dolphins), with an expert guide to accompany you. There's also a hydrophone available, enabling participants to tune into ‘whale radio’, also known as whale sounds, between dives. On the tour you’ll also see coastal waterfalls (after heavy rain) and the area’s ancient sea caves. Scuba dive with Jervis Bay Sea Sports to continue exploring the marine park and its 60 dive sites.
Woebegone Freedive, Jervis Bay - Credit: Jordan Robins Photography
