ABC Bay is a shallow bite out of the left-hand side of Goat Island, found from the water by the white letter B painted on the cliff face above it. The dive runs over a sandy bottom in 5 to 6 m against a standing wall of kelp; cross the wall into the bay itself and the water comes up to 2 to 3 m.
Where it is and how deep
36.2668° S, 174.7956° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The marker is the white B on the cliff face on the left-hand side of the island, so line up on it from the surface before you drop. Underneath is 5 to 6 m of water over a sandy bottom with a kelp wall standing at its edge, and that wall is the feature the dive is built around. Run along its base first, using the clean sand as a reference for depth and direction.
Cross over the top of the wall and the bottom comes up fast: the bay itself is 2 to 3 m, shallow enough that you are working in full light with the surface just above you. That turns the second half of the dive into a slow potter rather than a swim with a destination, and it is the part of the site that works as well with a snorkel as with a tank. Come back over the wall to finish.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Prime |
Season follows Goat Island: Jan–Apr is warmest and clearest as the East Auckland Current pushes south; winter is cold, green and often blown out.
Questions divers ask
How deep is ABC Bay?+
5 to 6 m over the sandy bottom outside the kelp wall, shallowing to 2 to 3 m once you cross the wall into the bay itself.
Sources
- ABC Bay dive site — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide
In The Logbook
- Kelp forest diving, and where it still growsCold water · 13 min read
More dive sites in Goat Island
Reef
A rock that shows at low tide and disappears at high
Yellow sponges on sand ledges at 8 to 9 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Kelp gardens and rock gutters, no deeper than about 13 m
A self-guided shore dive over kelp and seagrass in 8-12 m
A tennis-court-sized reef with resident green turtles
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Shore-entry reef with a spring nursery of young tiger sharks