Feet First Dive

Feet First Dive operates at Nelson Bay, serving one of the most distinctive diving areas in Australia: Fly Point and the Port Stephens shore-diving community.

Fly Point is a shore dive that has an international reputation, and deservedly so. The sponge gardens within the Fly Point–Halifax Park Aquatic Reserve hold an extraordinary density of small life, protected for decades, and the site rewards slowness absolutely. Divers who cover ground see a fraction of what is there; divers who work one patch of sponge properly find nudibranchs, seahorses, pipefish, octopus, stingarees and anglerfish.

The reserve status is the reason it remains this good. Collection is prohibited and the habitat has survived decades of heavy diving traffic, which makes it a useful demonstration of what protection actually achieves underwater within sight of a busy town.

It is tide-sensitive. Current runs on the change and slack water is strongly preferred, which makes local knowledge about timing genuinely valuable rather than a nicety. A centre embedded in Nelson Bay knows when to be in the water.

Beyond the shore sites, Port Stephens offers offshore diving at Broughton Island, where Looking Glass — a narrow gutter cutting through the island — is a recognised grey nurse shark aggregation site and the region's most sought-after dive. Conditions there are more exposed and trips are weather-dependent.

Training, retail, hire and fills are documented, which makes this a practical base for divers staying in the area. Worth confirming: servicing and cylinder testing availability and turnaround; whether boat access to Broughton Island is run in-house or through a charter operator; Nitrox mixes; and any technical course availability. Buoyancy matters unusually much at Fly Point — the sediment is fine and one careless fin stroke ends the visibility for everyone in the water.

Fly Point is genuinely a site where technique determines what you see. Divers who swim a circuit report a pleasant dive; divers who pick one patch of sponge and work it for forty minutes come up having found a dozen nudibranch species. It rewards patience more than almost any site in Australia.