Whitsundays · Australia · Reef · Wall
Blue Pearl Bay
A training-depth bay with a reef regrowing after Cyclone Debbie
Area photo: Elemaki · CC BY-SA 3.0
Blue Pearl Bay is the fringing reef off Hayman Island, laid out as a run of bommies and a wall in water shallow enough that operators use it for training, to 18 m. The bottom is more rock than coral where Cyclone Debbie stripped it, and the reef regrowing over that rubble is what you spend the dive looking at, with batfish around it.
Where it is and how deep
20.0408° S, 148.8808° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
The layout is bommies and wall, and the whole dive fits inside 18 m, which is why the bay is used for training. Expect rock as much as coral on the bottom: Cyclone Debbie went through here and the damage is still obvious, with the reef growing back over the rubble rather than standing as a mature, continuous reef. That makes it a good bay to swim slowly and look at small things instead of covering ground.
Batfish are the fish you notice, around the bommies in numbers, and they are as much a part of the catalogue entry as the coral is. Stingrays and turtles are the other likely encounters rather than fixtures. No visibility or current figures are published for this bay specifically, so plan on the inshore Whitsundays pattern rather than a settled number, and ask the boat what the tide is doing before you get in.
Marine life and season
- Stingrays
- Sea turtles
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair |
Season follows Whitsundays: May–Sep is dry with the best visibility; Nov–Mar is the wet season with cyclone risk and stinger suits required inshore.
Know before you go
- Marine stinger season runs November to May in the Whitsundays and box jellyfish are present, so dive inshore in a stinger suit through those months.
Dive videos
Scuba Diving - Blue Pearl Bay, Hayman Island · Andrew Dib on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is Blue Pearl Bay?+
The published figure is dives to 18 m, which is what makes the bay useful for training. No shallower limit is published, but the bommies and wall run up well inside recreational depth.
Is Blue Pearl Bay good for beginners?+
Yes. It is shallow, sheltered fringing reef and operators run training dives here. The reef is still recovering from Cyclone Debbie, so expect rock and regrowth rather than dense coral.
Sources
- Blue Pearl Bay "2" dive site — Scubago / SSI MyDiveGuide
- Queensland — Wikivoyage
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