The coastline of Royal National Park has more dive sites than any part of Sydney. The whole section of coast is a dive site. I have dived every section from Jibbon Point to south of Wattamolla (it extends further south), a distance of about seven kilometres and there is not a spot that you cannot dive.
One of the more popular sites is The Balcony. Immediately north of this is The Cutting. North of this is a small headland that we call The Cutting North Reef. This is located at GPS 34ΒΊ 05.808'S 151ΒΊ 09.953'E (using WGS84 - if you use any other datum, you will need to convert the reading - see my GPS Page for more details.
| |
The Cutting North Reef | The Cutting North Reef |
Once you get to this spot, run into towards the headland and anchor when the reef comes up from 20 metres to about 12 metres. Do not go too close to the shore as it is quite shallow there. After you enter the water, head back out east or south till you drop over the wall. The wall drops to about 18 metres and then to 20 to 21 metres. This is on the sand. Follow the sand to the east and the reef will turn to the north. The bottom here has some small boulders and sand.
As you head north, it remains much the same. After about 10 to 12 minutes you will see that the main part of the reef has come much closer to the sand edge. This is a good spot to turn around, but before you do, go up into the shallower area. There are lots of gutters in this area, with large schools of yellowtail and seapike in some. There are a few small caves here as well.
| |
A small cave at The Cutting North Reef | A large overhang at The Cutting North Reef |
Head back south along the main wall and then west past where you anchored. Drop back to the sand and keep going. After another five minutes head back up to the main wall and return to the east.
MORE TO COME
|