Dive Centre Manly

You don’t need to travel to the Great Barrier Reef to discover Australia’s marine life – you can see cockatoo fish, leatherjackets, sea urchin (so much sea urchin) and teeny tiny pomfrets right here, in Manly. Dive Centre Manly runs Snorkel Safaris of three popular spots in the area, and they take visitors on underwater adventures every day. Today we’re heading to Fairlight (the wind isn’t in our favour to snorkel at Shelly Beach) and our guide Ana explains the route we’ll take and what we’re likely to see before we arrive at the beach. In a 40-minute swim, we navigate over the kelp and seagrass in the quiet bay and Ana points out a school of goatfish, pygmy leatherjackets and crimson banded wrasse. Snorkelling is a social sport and having Ana to guide us means more eyes for spotting sea creatures as we concentrate on breathing and swimming. Before our eyes can adjust, Ana spots a pair of smooth cornetfish in the deep. We swim round to the boulders and the drop goes from three metres to 12, suddenly we’re surrounded by tennis ball-sized jellyfish that we scoop up with our hands to see the currents of light travelling through them. Already a snorkelling pro? Hire a mask, snorkel, fins and floaty for the day for $25.