Green Island, South West Rocks

Green Island, South West Rocks

By ScubaDownUnder Team · 2026-10-01

Green Island is a small rocky island just north of Smoky Cape Lighthouse at South West Rocks, on the NSW mid-north coast. It sits about 100 metres off the shore of Hat Head National Park, and dive boats pass it on the way to [Fish Rock](https://scubadownunder.com/blog/fish-rock-cave). Since 1 December 2002 it has been, along with Fish Rock, a critical habitat for the grey nurse shark, which is listed as critically endangered.

Both South West Rocks dive centres take divers there. South West Rocks Dive Centre rates it a great dive, especially as the second of the day, and Fish Rock Dive Centre says its regular divers often ask for it as an alternative to Fish Rock. Underwater photographer Nicolas Remy rates it even higher than Fish Rock on a good day, but notes that it is seldom visited, partly because divers insist on Fish Rock and partly because it depends more on the weather.

## The Dive

Green Island is normally dived as a drift. Fish Rock Dive Centre says there is usually a north to south current here, so it plans the dive as a drift and picks divers up off the southern end of the island. The most popular part is the northern and eastern sides, where overhangs, sponge-encrusted ledges and rocky reef edged by sand hug the island. Depth averages 14 metres, from about 6 metres at the northern end to 18 metres at the southern end, and South West Rocks Dive Centre gives the same average with an 18 metre maximum. At the southern tip the island's wall becomes sheerer and there are two very narrow gutters.

Remy describes a drift that starts among boulders in about 12 metres and then follows the sand line at 15 metres. Writing for The Underwater Club, he also describes a drift along the western side at 10 to 15 metres when the sea is calm and the water clear. Fish Rock Dive Centre recommends a torch for the animals tucked into the walls and between the boulders.

## Grey Nurse Sharks

An Important Shark and Ray Area factsheet published in 2025 by the IUCN shark specialist group covers Fish Rock and Green Island together. It records up to 20 grey nurse sharks on a single dive at Green Island, against up to 100 at Fish Rock. In a NSW Government tracking study from 2011 to 2021, 22 of 31 tagged grey nurse sharks were detected at Green Island, staying for up to seven days, and they swam close to the seabed at an average depth of 15.5 metres. The factsheet reports the sharks at Green Island from autumn to summer, while at Fish Rock they are seen all year. Most sightings in the area are of sharks resting in the gutters between the reefs; resting grey nurse sharks typically hover facing into the current or mill slowly within a gutter.

Neither operator publishes a grey nurse season for Green Island itself. At nearby Fish Rock, South West Rocks Dive Centre sees the largest numbers from May to September and, in recent years, only a few (and on some days none) between February and April, and Remy suggests avoiding February to April if sharks are the goal. Our [grey nurse shark guide](https://scubadownunder.com/blog/the-grey-nurse-shark-the-gentle-giant-of-australias-reefs) has more on the species.

## Other Marine Life

Fish Rock Dive Centre lists cuttlefish, blind sharks and wobbegongs among the boulders, resident loggerhead and green turtles resting under the overhangs, large bull rays, juvenile lionfish, moray eels, small yellow boxfish and many kinds of nudibranch. Out on the sand look for very large shovelnose rays and small fiddler rays, and overhead for spotted eagle rays, often at the southern tip. Fish include dusky flathead, bream, yellowtail, southern fusiliers, leatherjackets, wrasses including the friendly eastern blue groper, luderick and morwong, with schooling bonito, jewfish and kingfish.

South West Rocks Dive Centre adds dozens of very large drummer, hundreds of good-sized bream, thousands of yellowtail and large schools of red morwong. On his two drifts, in July and September, Remy met grey nurse sharks and whitespotted guitarfish over two metres long; one dive ended among schooling white-spotted eagle rays and the other with a silky shark. He adds that leopard sharks visit in early autumn after the water has warmed, along with Queensland groper, and that the marine life is often more tropical than at Fish Rock.

## Conditions

Nobody publishes conditions for Green Island alone, so Remy's notes from Fish Rock, a short run to the south, are the best guide. He has had summer water of 24 to 25°C with 25 metres of blue-water visibility, and July to October dives at 18 to 19°C with 10 to 20 metres. He says the water rarely drops below 17°C even in winter, though a change of wind can cool it suddenly and turn it green, and that visibility around Fish Rock ranges from 3 to 30 metres with swell, wind and plankton. Green Island depends more on the weather than Fish Rock, so expect to dive it on settled days.

## Rules at a Critical Habitat

The NSW Government's map shows the critical habitat extending about 200 metres around the island. Line fishing with bait is banned there, although soft plastics, artificial and vegetable baits are allowed. The national code of conduct for diving with grey nurse sharks applies in all NSW waters, and at critical habitat sites such as Green Island it also rules out night dives. Divers must not touch, feed, chase or harass the sharks, block gutters or cave entrances, dive in groups of more than ten, or use scooters or other mechanical devices.

## Site Access and Logistics

Green Island is a boat dive; Fish Rock Dive Centre notes that access from the mainland is difficult. South West Rocks Dive Centre and Fish Rock Dive Centre both run it, usually as a second dive or as an alternative when Fish Rock does not suit. Dive trips start on the Macleay River at South West Rocks. Fish Rock Dive Centre, at 4 New Entrance Road, runs a 12 metre purpose-built dive boat from its own dock and puts Fish Rock 35 to 40 minutes away; Green Island lies on the way.

Fish Rock Dive Centre welcomes divers of all certification levels and matches sites to experience, but prefers divers to hold an Advanced certification, or Open Water with 15 or more logged dives. South West Rocks is about a five-hour drive from both Sydney and Brisbane.

Non-divers can see the island from the lookout at the end of the Green Island walking track in Hat Head National Park. Other dives nearby include [Black Rocks](https://scubadownunder.com/blog/lighthouse-reef-south-west-rocks), just south of the lighthouse, and the wider region is covered in our guide to the [best places to dive in NSW](https://scubadownunder.com/blog/best-places-to-dive-in-nsw).

## Sources

- [Fish Rock Dive Centre: Dive sites](https://www.fishrock.com.au/dive-sites) - [Fish Rock Dive Centre: Boat dives](https://www.fishrock.com.au/boat-dives) - [Fish Rock Dive Centre: Contact](https://www.fishrock.com.au/contact) - [South West Rocks Dive Centre: Dive sites](https://swrdive.com.au/pages/dive-sites) - IUCN SSC Shark Specialist Group: Fish Rock and Green Island ISRA factsheet (sharkrayareas.org, PDF) - [Divernet: Diving South West Rocks, exploring Fish Rock, Green Island and grey nurse sharks](https://divernet.com/world-dives/australia-oceania/diving-south-west-rocks-fish-rock-guide/) - [The Underwater Club: Diving South West Rocks](https://theunderwaterclub.com/blog/diving-south-west-rocks/) - [NSW National Parks: Green Island walking track](https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/walking-tracks/green-island-walking-track) - NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development: Fish Rock and Green Island Greynurse Shark critical habitat map, PDF (dpird.nsw.gov.au) - NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development: Fishing and diving rules at Greynurse Shark aggregation sites (dpird.nsw.gov.au)

Header photo: A grey nurse shark photographed by a diver in the South West Rocks area in September 2017, by Christopher Mark, [CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carcharias_taurus_12616854.jpg).