Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving - Cod Rock
Broughton Island is located off the coast of Myall Lakes National Park, just north of Port Stephens (named by Lieutenant James Cook, RN, in 1770). On the southern shore of Port Stephens is Nelson Bay and on the north shore, Hakes Nest/Tea Gardens. For more information about Nelson Bay, see my page on this small town.
About 12 kilometres from the Nelson Bay marina is Broughton Island. Also part of Myall Lakes National Park, it is really made up of a big island (Broughton) as well as Little Broughton Island, Looking Glass Island, North Rock, Inner Rock and some smaller islets. In calm seas it is a nice easy run out to the island. In north-easterly winds (common sometimes early in the day in summer) or in southerly winds, it could be advisable to stay closer to Port Stephens. In good condition it is about 50 minutes to the island in Pro Dive's large boat.
One of the second dive sites is Cod Rock. This is on the southern side of Broughton Island, right at the end of a finger that stretches out to the south east. Cod Rock is a smallish rock that juts just out of the water and drops down to 18 metres with 12 metres being the shallowest right around the rock. It is an easy swim to circumnavigate the rock on a dive and there is a small cave on the south-west corner here as well.
The bottom is rocky and there are a couple of boulders off the main rock, one of that sticks up from 12 to 9 metres. To the west there is sand and to the north west, the main island. The deepest part is near the cave on the south-east side and the shallowest on the northern side.
All in all, Broughton Island is an excellent dive location, well worth the extra distance you have to travel in the boat from Nelson Bay. The service on my trips from Pro Dive Nelson Bay and the Hawks Nest Dive Centre was very good and I can certainly recommend them both.
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