NSW Central Coast

This is not one tight destination but roughly 40 km of coast with three loosely linked clusters: Terrigal and Avoca in the south, Norah Head and The Entrance in the middle, and Catherine Hill Bay and the Swansea Channel in the north. The only established operator, Central Coast Divers, has worked the coast since 1987, now from a shop inland at Killarney Vale, and takes its boat Snappy Tom out of Terrigal Haven to the wrecks and reefs, with Norah Head and Davistown as alternative launch points. Everything else is shore diving planned around wind, swell and, at Swansea, the tide table.

The shore sites are temperate rock, sand and seagrass. Terrigal Haven's seagrass under the moorings is a slow critter dive with bull rays, Port Jackson sharks and blue gropers; the Skillion is a cave full of schooling fish and jewel anemones, and it can only be attempted from shore on a calm day. Off The Entrance, 3 Mile Bommie is a 30-hectare reef with blue gropers, wobbegongs, grey nurse sharks and schools of kingfish and yellowtail. The Swansea Channel carries decorator crabs, pineapple fish, leatherjackets, octopus and cuttlefish, and at Catherine Hill Bay the old coal loader lies in about 11 m over the remains of the SS Wallarah.

It suits Sydney and Newcastle divers who want reef and macro without a long drive, and deep-wreck divers with the qualifications: the collier Galava, which foundered off Terrigal in 1927, lies in 51 m, with the Kiama and Hallcaine at 45 m, Nerong at 43 m and Commonwealth at 42 m. Anyone travelling specifically for the ex-HMAS Adelaide should wait, since it has been closed since July 2024 with no reopening date. Visibility is variable and has been logged as low as 1 m at Avoca, so plans should follow conditions. Divers wanting a single base with several operators and reliable sponge-garden diving are better served at Nelson Bay, further north at Port Stephens.