Shore Diving & Snorkelling not to be missed!

Fly Point is a favourite amongst visitors and the locals due to its abundance in life and colour. As soon as you enter the water you are surrounded by fish swimming around your legs. This is a snorkeler’s heaven! For divers there is something to look at the entire dive. Submerge in the shallows to see schooling fish of all sizes, look through the sea grass and kelp for octopus, wobbegongs and sea hairs.

Into the little things? Looking in and around the sponges, corals and sea grasses you could find a rainbow of nudibranches, cowries, flatworms, sea spiders and other little critters to make you smile. For those who like the big stuff there are sponges bigger than you could wrap your arms around, blue groupers, and a variety of fish life schooling throughout the sponges and over head. There are a number of massive silver drummer patrolling the area, Oh and don’t forget the possibility of being buzzed by a dolphin.

The actual diving area is vast allowing you to do a number of dives here without having to go to the same place twice. The most popular route is to head North until you drop down off the seagrasses on to sand at approx 7 meters. Start heading west while continuing down to 12m. Here where the sand triangle and the sponges meet you will find the start of the ledges where the greatest amount of schooling fish life will be found. Divers follow the ledges looking at, under and on top for a variety of creatures. When ready to turn around you can return along the ledges or swim along the top rim for more variety . Once at the start of the ledges swim SE up to the 5 metres then East toward the exit.

If you leave enough air getting back to the exit point continue along until you find the short seagrass then heading south/east and zig zag shallower is where you can find Stripy the turtle. You will tell it is Stripy by the duck tap line on its back and the transmitter. Stripy gets a bit of unwanted attention from the snorkelers so creep up slowly to enjoy because once Stripy see you “ahhh and it will probably swim away!”

For something deeper and different, go to the start of the 12 metre ledges but then continue out (north) where you can get down in to 24+ metres. The bottom is covered in stunning white soft corals and sponges. Wobbegong and Blind sharks often just hang out and there is a variety of life to be found hiding in the crevasses. Then simply head west for a while then you can zig zag back to the 12m ledges.

You can exit as above or head around to the west following the 5 mtre ledges around and get out at the beach which will take you over the start of the Seahorse Gardens dive site. Either way, take your time swimming along at 5 metres as there is loads of life hiding in the kelp.

Lastly when you enter you might like to avoid the crowds all together or looking for some place new so swim East away from the ledges. Life here is not as abundant but still full of colour with smaller sponges and seagrass. From the entry swim North til you reach approx 7 metres then turn East and follow the sand/sponge line around. It will get deeper into approx 10m. Look out for blue ring octopus, flathead, rays and on a very rare occasion a seahorse has been found. To return simply turn and follow the sand/sponge line or venture southward into the shallows where you can find large schooling bream and butterfish and of course Stripy the turtle!

The tides that bring the nutrient-rich water into the Bay also dictate our diving schedule. Best time is on the slack high tide. Depending on the size of the tide as to how much time you have safely in the water. A 1.4m or smaller tide you could get in a bit early or squeeze in two shorter dives but the norm is to do one big long relaxing dive.

For the bigger tides 1.7m – 2m you might find yourself diving while the tide is still running which thankfully is ok at Fly as the incoming tide takes you around the main dive site area then the outgoing tide brings you back toward the exit. Please ask at the shop for a map and advice before diving here for the first time or request a Dive Master to guide you.