Black Rocks, Smoky Cape

Black Rocks, Smoky Cape, South West Rocks

By ScubaDownUnder Team · 2026-05-14

This page used to describe a "Lighthouse Reef" off Smoky Cape at South West Rocks. No local dive operator lists a site by that name. The reef they do dive just south of Smoky Cape Lighthouse is Black Rocks, which South West Rocks Dive Centre calls Black Rock: two bare rocks off the beach that sweeps south from the cape towards Hat Head, with a garden of plate coral below. OpenStreetMap places the pair about 3 kilometres south-south-west of the lighthouse and roughly 900 metres off South Smoky Beach.

Fish Rock Dive Centre treats Black Rocks as a popular alternative to the dives at [Fish Rock](https://scubadownunder.com/blog/fish-rock-cave) and says it suits all levels of diver. South West Rocks Dive Centre calls it a relaxing and interesting dive whose depth makes it especially suited to second dives.

## The Dive

Surge in the gutter between the two rocks makes it unsafe to pass between them on all but the calmest days, and Fish Rock Dive Centre asks divers to stay within sight of the boat, so it usually splits Black Rocks into two dives. Both start in the middle of the small natural bay formed by the two rocks.

On the northern side, small crevices and larger boulders sit in about 6 to 8 metres close to the rocks, and the boulders shrink as you swim out to the reef edge on the sand at 14 to 16 metres. The average depth is about 12 metres. Much of the reef is made of large plate coral, and Fish Rock Dive Centre says Black Rocks is the southernmost point where plate coral grows in such abundance.

The southern side has similar topography with more depth at its outer edges, reaching 20 metres or more on the sand. Large boulders and small sand gutters shelter juvenile fish, and divers usually swim along the main rock, keeping it on their left, before turning back to the boat. South West Rocks Dive Centre gives the site's depth as 8 to 15 metres.

## Marine Life

On the northern side Fish Rock Dive Centre lists moray eels, lionfish, nudibranchs, feather stars, octopus and juvenile fish among the boulders and hard coral, huge schools of bullseyes and baitfish, and white-spotted shovelnose rays and flounder hiding in the sand patches. Egg cowries live on the coral and rocks, loggerhead and green turtles are resident (including a large three-flippered loggerhead close to the rock), and very large bull rays are sometimes seen at the sand edge. The southern side adds scorpionfish, huge schools of pomfrets and bullseyes, and passing long-tailed bannerfish.

South West Rocks Dive Centre adds yellowtail, seapike, silver sweep, nannygai, dozens of moon wrasse, blue groper, combfish and wobbegongs, along with tropical corals and thousands of schooling baitfish.

Larger fish visit rather than live here. Fish Rock Dive Centre names grey nurse sharks, large kingfish and jewfish as visitors, with the occasional bronze whaler off the southern side. Black Rocks is not one of the NSW grey nurse shark critical habitat or aggregation sites, but the national code of conduct for diving with grey nurse sharks applies in all NSW waters: do not touch, feed or chase them, do not block gutters or cave entrances, and keep groups to ten divers or fewer. Our [grey nurse shark guide](https://scubadownunder.com/blog/the-grey-nurse-shark-the-gentle-giant-of-australias-reefs) has more on the species.

## Conditions

No operator publishes visibility or temperature for Black Rocks alone. Around Fish Rock, about 2.5 kilometres to the east-north-east, underwater photographer Nicolas Remy has had summer water of 24 to 25°C with 25 metres of 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 in winter, that conditions change by the day with wind and swell, and that visibility can range from 3 to 30 metres. Fish Rock Dive Centre adds that snorkelling at Black Rocks is popular during surface intervals and that the bay is a pleasant place for a hot drink between dives.

## Smoky Cape

James Cook named Smoky Cape on 13 May 1770 after seeing fires burning on the headland, which the NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service notes were Aboriginal fires. Hat Head National Park, which takes in the cape, is part of the traditional land of the Dunghutti people. Smoky Cape Lighthouse, designed by Colonial Architect James Barnet, was first lit on 15 April 1891 and stands on a granite headland; its light is the highest in NSW.

## Site Access and Logistics

Black Rocks is a boat dive. Fish Rock Dive Centre lists it as Black Rocks, with separate Northern Side and Southern Side dives, and South West Rocks Dive Centre lists it as Black Rock. Dive trips begin on the Macleay River at South West Rocks. Fish Rock Dive Centre, at 4 New Entrance Road, runs a 12 metre dive boat from its own dock and puts Fish Rock 35 to 40 minutes away; neither operator publishes the run time to Black Rocks.

Fish Rock Dive Centre welcomes divers of all certification levels and matches sites to experience. Pair Black Rocks with [Green Island](https://scubadownunder.com/blog/green-island-south-west-rocks), the grey nurse critical habitat just north of the lighthouse, and see our guide to the [best places to dive in NSW](https://scubadownunder.com/blog/best-places-to-dive-in-nsw) for the rest of the coast.

## 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) - [Macleay Valley Coast Holiday Parks: 5 Best Dive Spots Near South West Rocks](https://www.macleayvalleycoastholidayparks.com.au/discover-macleay/best-dive-spots-near-south-west-rocks/) - [The Underwater Club: Diving South West Rocks](https://theunderwaterclub.com/blog/diving-south-west-rocks/) - [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/) - [OpenStreetMap: Black Rocks](https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/393578498) - [Wikipedia: Smoky Cape Lighthouse](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoky_Cape_Lighthouse) - [NSW National Parks: Smoky Cape Lighthouse](https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/things-to-do/historic-buildings-places/smoky-cape-lighthouse) - [NSW National Parks: Hat Head National Park, learn more](https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/hat-head-national-park/learn-more) - NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development: Fishing and diving rules at Greynurse Shark aggregation sites (dpird.nsw.gov.au)

Header photo: Looking south from Smoky Cape over South Smoky Beach in 1991, by Brian Tolagson, [CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smoky_Cape_NSW_in_1991_5.jpg).