When people visit the Gold Coast, they often ask what the diving is like and what options there are. Surprisingly, many local divers only know their shore diving hot spots such as the Gold Coast Seaway and probably the wreck of the Scottish Prince. The most likely reason for this is that there was no commercial diving operator in at least 10 years that has offered a consistent and reliable charter service to all Gold Coast dive sites. Based at Runaway Bay Marina, Gold Coast Dive Adventures has launched its vessel Blue Manta in February 2017 and offers offshore diving trips every weekend and on requests for groups of 5 or more. We continuously explore new local dive sites and try to inform the local diving community of the additional magnificent diving options right at our door step. From that point of view, being a local Gold Coast Diver is a great thing as the need to commute to other diving destinations such as Byron Bay or Tweed Heads becomes less of a requirement with a charter boat just a few minutes down the road and many sites to explore.
The Gold Coast is very fortunate to have access to several dive sites within close proximity to the Gold Coast Seaway. The areal picture above provides and overview of the major sites that we recommend for scuba and free-diving. Greta’s Reef, Migaloo Reef and the historic wreck of the Scottish Prince are only minutes apart from each other and therefore present fantastic options for multi-dive boat trips. As the photograph indicates, the travel distance is little hence, ideal for people that suffer from the occasional motion sickness.
Mermaid Reef, Palm Beach Reef and Kirra Reef require a longer boat ride of up to 30min depending on sea conditions. We only visit these sites on days without major swell and seas. The longer ride is however well worth it. Palm Beach Reef is the Gold Coast’s largest reef system. It is more than 900m long and up to 450m wide in sections.
On days where weather conditions are against us, we are able to dive the Gold Coast Seaway and Wave Break Island on high tides.
Going to the north, not shown on the aerial photograph, we have sites available such as the wreck of the Sea Dragon and the wreck of the Aquarian, both within the Moreton Bay Marine Park bounderies. These sites are rarely visited as they require a certain combination of environmental conditions.
In conclusion, the diverse options for diving are unique in our regional area. Where else do you have 12 different dive sites only minutes apart from each other? Keen to check it out? Book a trip online by browsing our calendar.
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