Diving & Travel Guide to New South Wales – Illawarra

About New South Wales – Illawarra

The Illawarra region on the New South Wales south coast, centered on the city of Wollongong and extending south to Jervis Bay, is one of Australia's most underrated diving destinations, offering an extraordinary combination of grey nurse shark diving, dramatic headland sites, and the world-class marine environments of Jervis Bay Marine Park. Bass Point, near Shellharbour, is the region's premier dive site and one of NSW's most reliable grey nurse shark encounter locations, with the sharks gathering in the underwater arch and gutter systems during winter months alongside large schools of pelagic fish. The site also features The Arch, a spectacular underwater swim-through that adds to its appeal. Jervis Bay, one of Australia's most beautiful natural bays with famously white sand beaches, offers a remarkable collection of dive sites including Point Perpendicular with its dramatic cliff-side diving, Hyams Beach, Bowen Island with its seal colony, Hole in the Wall, and numerous other sites within the protected marine park. Shellharbour provides accessible headland diving at The Shallows and Bushrangers Bay, while Kiama's Blowhole and Storm Bay offer dramatic coastal scenery above and below the water. The Five Islands Nature Reserve, offshore from Wollongong, provides excellent diving with abundant marine life and the possibility of encountering Australian fur seals. Bellambi and the surrounding reef systems add further variety to a region that combines outstanding diving with the dramatic scenery of the Illawarra escarpment, vibrant coastal communities, and one of Australia's most beautiful natural bays.

Highlights

• ✓Bass Point – reliable grey nurse shark encounters and The Arch swim-through
• ✓Jervis Bay Marine Park – world-class diving in one of Australia's most beautiful bays
• ✓Point Perpendicular – dramatic cliff-side diving in Jervis Bay
• ✓Bowen Island with its Australian fur seal colony
• ✓Five Islands Nature Reserve with seal encounters and diverse marine life
• ✓Combination of shark diving, headland sites, and sheltered bay diving

Getting There

The Illawarra region is accessed from Wollongong, approximately 80 minutes south of Sydney via the Grand Pacific Drive (a scenic coastal route) or the M1 Motorway (60 minutes). Wollongong does not have a commercial airport, so most visitors arrive by car or train from Sydney via the South Coast Line. Jervis Bay, at the southern end of the region, is approximately 2.5 hours south of Sydney or 45 minutes from Wollongong. The main dive departure points are Shellharbour (for Bass Point), Kiama, Wollongong (for Five Islands), and Huskisson and Jervis Bay (for the marine park sites). Several dive operators run boat trips from these departure points, and many sites including Bass Point, Shellharbour, and Jervis Bay locations are accessible from shore. The region's compact coastline means that all dive sites are within easy driving distance of the main accommodation centers.