The Great Sandy Strait separates Fraser Island from Hervey Bay on the mainland. The most popular dive sites lie in this strait. Depths are relatively shallow and the water temperature varies from 15 degrees Celsius in winter to 28 degrees in summer. Diving conditions are influenced by the tide and wind.  Visibility ranges from 6 to 14 + metres.

Hervey Bay has many places to snorkel and scuba dive for instance Big Woody Island and Little Woody Island with their fantastic corals and rock formations to the Roy Rufus Artificial Reef and Moon Ledge just to mention a couple. The Roy Rufus Artificial Reef holds many wounders with many old ships, which have been scuttled over the years. For instance The Three Ships which were all once used in the timber industry. Mostly they were used to transport timber up the Mary River from Fraser Island to the Port of Maryborough. 

The most popular dive sites

Moon Ledge

 A coffee rock ledge stretching for some hundreds of metres. The depth varies from 10 to 21+ metres. Shallow caves and fallen boulders characterise this site. Schools of large fish frequent the area, particularly cod. The top of the ledge flattens off into a coral and sandy reef. Water temperature ranges between 17 an 29 degrees and visibility varies from 5 to 20 + meters. 

Don't let the beauty fool you. All coral reefs and artificial reefs have many species of marine life that can be potentially fatal to humans. Some of the dangerous marine life as well as some of the magical wounders that you will see are listed on our Marine Life page. We hope you have the time to visit this page to see some of the beauty there is on offer here in our slice of Paradise One of the most unusual dive sites in Southern Queensland is a series of steep sand drop-offs, which is just west of Moon Point on Fraser Island, and it called Moon Ledge.  

When you descend at Moon Ledge the first thing that crosses your mind is that the site is aptly named. While the landscape is not exactly lunar in appearance, its overhangs and sand caves have a weird bareness, which, at first sight promises little marine life, but as you swim down and along the drop-offs from 12 metres to 30 metres, you find they provide many unexpected encounters. Just when you think the dive is unlikely to yield anything exciting, you're likely to surprise a huge green turtle hiding in a cave, or you may swim around a bend into the middle of a parrotfish or blue tusk fish. 

The value of Moon Ledge as a dive site lies in the unknown, rather than the known. It is a dive, suitable for experienced divers who are keen observers of the underwater environment. The caves are especially fascinating, if only because they seem completely out of place in what is essentially an otherwise featureless landscape of coarse dark sand. Dark minerals have bonded the sand together in places, and the strong tidal currents that can rip through the area have carved out the features. 

The  caves and overhangs are etched into a series of cliffs, which drop steeply, like giant stairs from about 12 to 30 metres. These cliffs run roughly, north to south along the eastern edge of a shallow bank, which drops to similar depths on its western side. While the caves are not particularly large or deep, they are big enough to shelter resting turtles and other large creatures. 

Some of the marine Life you can expect to see on Moon Ledge are Scribbled Angel Fish, Coral Trout, Turtles, Nudibranch's, Cod & Qld Groper, Sergeant Majors Damsels, Trevally, Soft Corals, Blackall, Stone Fish, Stinging Hydroid, Sea Snakes, Stingrays and Pelagic species. 

Roy Rufus

Artificial Reef ranges in depth  between 17 to 18 meters, water temperature of between 17 an 29 degrees and visibility which varies from 5 to 20 meters.Some of the marine life you can expect to see on the Roy Rufus Artificial Reef are Cod & Qld Groper, Trevally, Stone Fish, Blackall, Blue Parrot, Stinging Hydroid, Squire, Turtles, Sea Snakes, Nudibranch's, Soft Corals and Stingrays again just to mention a few.  

3 Ships

The hulls of the Otter, Lass and Pelican make up the area known as the Three Ships. Picket lines connect the hulls which makes for easy navigation. Excellent fish life. A popular night dive sight. The depth varies from 14 to 17 metres. The Lass O'Gowrie, also known as the Lass Goori which is43 metres in length and was scuttled on the 31st July 1969 (built in 1884).The Pelican which is 27 metres in length and was scuttled on the 5th December 1971.The Otter which is 40 meters in length and was scuttled on the 28th July 1973 (built in 1885)  .These ships lay upright in a triangular arrangement on an undulating but flat sandy bottom: The Otter lays north/south with her stern to the north: The Pelican lays east/west with her stern to the east and the Lass O Gowrie lays with her stern to the west on a line of 110 degrees. A swim course is marked between the ships by a line of pickets each 4 meters apart. Many car bodies are located in the centre of the three ships triangle. These three ships are located centrally within the Roy Rufus Artificial Reef. Each structure on the artificial reef has been purpose placed in an attempt to provide a home to as many varieties of marine life found in the area. 

The K'Gari

The K'Gari was also originally used transporting timber up the Mary River from Fraser Island to the Port of Maryborough. This ship also sits upright on an undulating but flat sandy bottom. She lays with her stem to the west on an angle of about 7 degrees. The K'Gari is located towards the northern tip of the artificial reef approximately 40 metres south of her stern lies a dump of car bodies. A line of pickets each about 4 metres marks the swim to these bodies apart. The unusual name K'Gari is of aboriginal origin and means literally "Island Paradise". This was the aboriginal name given to Fraser Island.  The K'Gari is 43 metres in length and was scuttled on the 19th September 1976 (built 1897) 

The Goori

The Goori was originally built in 1923 for the Adelaide Steamship Company. The vessel was firstly named the (Gartmoor) and was used as a coastal steamer, during this time she was renamed the Gooridi. In 1956 she was sold to Maryborough’s Wilson. Hart & Co saw milling company and was used to cart timber from Fraser Island to Maryborough. She lay idle in the Mary River for a number of years after the sawmill closure and eventually was laid to rest on the Roy Rufus Artificial Reef. This ship also sits upright on an undulating but flat sandy bottom. She lays east/west with her stern to the west. The Goori is located at the southern end of the reef. The Goori is 46 metres in length and was scuttled on the 25th May 1990. 

Steel Barge S4

Lies off Hervey Bay and to the north of Big Woody Island in 12 metres of water. A shorter dive. 
The Artificial Reef has numerous areas of car bodies, barges and other debris.