Sydney Snorkelling Guide: Best Spots for Marine Life and Coastal Exploration

Sydney features numerous coastal inlets and beaches with diverse marine life. Swimmers and snorkelers can explore several locations across the Northern Beaches, lower North Shore, and Eastern Suburbs.

Shelly Beach

Located in Cabbage Tree Bay aquatic reserve in Manly, Shelly Beach offers sheltered waters frequented by divers and snorkelers. Swimmers hugging the right-side rocky coastline toward the reef tip can spot Eastern blue gropers, giant cuttlefish, wobbegongs, and Port Jackson sharks, alongside an old motorbike wreck near the end of the reef. The left-hand shoreline features shallows with cray weed, sea grass, squid, rays, and juvenile dusky whaler sharks in warmer months, while turtles and dolphins are also observed.

Palm Beach

Positioned at the northernmost point of the Northern Beaches, Palm Beach provides shelter at the southern end of the surf beach near the rockpool. Snorkelers can explore sea grass, kelp, rock formations housing cuttlefish and octopus, and smooth stingrays on the sandy sea floor. A ferry ride from Palm Beach leads to The Basin in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park, where sea horses, starfish, cuttlefish, bream, leather jackets, and tropical species reside during warmer months.

Clifton Gardens and Chowder Bay

Clifton Gardens Recreational Park provides access to Chowder Bay in Mosman. The jetty and swimming enclosure support White's seahorses, decorator crabs, leatherjackets, nudibranchs, squid, and cuttlefish. The local endangered seahorse population was supported in 2020 with aquarium-bred juveniles and wire cage habitats known as seahorse hotels. A moray eel pair also inhabits a hole in one of the jetty pylons.

Clovelly and Gordons Bay

Clovelly, situated south of Bondi within the Bronte-Coogee Aquatic Reserve, offers protected conditions with entry from concrete steps near the surf club. Snorkelers over seaweed beds and fringing reefs can find octopuses, cuttlefish, moray eels, schooling fish, and Eastern blue gropers. Gordons Bay is located between Clovelly and Coogee beaches in the Eastern Suburbs.

Practical Visitor Tips

• Guided Tours: Ecotreasures offers guided snorkelling tours at Shelly Beach suitable for beginners and experienced snorkelers.

• Equipment Hire: Dive Centre Manly provides snorkels, masks, and fins for hire.

• Youth Programs: The Land's Edge Foundation operates day camps through Saltwater School at Chowder Bay.

• Local Food: Out of the Blue in Clovelly serves fish burgers popular with locals.

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