Split Solitary Island

Split Solitary Island, Coffs Harbour

By ScubaDownUnder Team · 2026-09-18

Twenty minutes by boat from Coffs Harbour, a rocky island that looks as though it has been cleaved in two rises from the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Split Solitary Island is the accessible jewel of the Coffs coast, a dive of coral gardens and kelp beds where green turtles doze in the shallows and the tropical and temperate worlds overlap. It is shallow, sheltered enough to suit a wide range of divers, and rich enough to keep them coming back, the easygoing favourite of a marine park full of good diving.

Split Solitary Island lies within the Solitary Islands Marine Park, the stretch of the New South Wales coast off Coffs Harbour where the warm East Australian Current meets cooler southern water. That meeting is the making of the diving: hard corals more typical of the tropics grow alongside the kelp and sponge of temperate reefs, and the fish life mixes the two. Split Solitary is the closest of the marine park's islands to Coffs, only twenty minutes out, which makes it the area's most-dived and most accessible site, as good for a snorkel as for a long, easy dive.

The diving here is gentle and varied. A plateau around the island sits at about ten metres, dropping to a flat bottom at fifteen to eighteen with occasional rock outcrops, and the shallower bays and headlands range from five to fifteen metres. The bays are carpeted in hard and soft coral, including plate coral, while the headlands are covered in invertebrate life, and kelp beds grow in the deeper water. The famous Turtle Cove, on the eastern edge, is a gutter full of life and a reliable spot for turtles. The range of depth and terrain means divers can choose a shallow potter or a longer reef dive, and the site suits everyone from newer divers to photographers.

Split Solitary is famous for its turtles, green turtles that rest in the shallows and the kelp and are frequently found sleeping, unbothered by divers. Around them the reef is rich: hard and soft coral gardens, anemones and anemonefish, moray eels peering from the rock, eastern rock lobster in the ledges, and cowry shells and nudibranchs for the macro diver. Kelp beds in the deeper water shelter their own community, and the mix of the East Australian Current and the local temperate water fills the reef with both tropical and temperate fish. The coral gardens are a highlight in their own right, unusually rich for this latitude.

Split Solitary is sheltered and accessible by the standards of the marine park, but it is still an offshore boat dive. Visibility needs to be reasonable, ideally above fifteen metres, for the best of the coral and the turtles, and the surface can become choppy or the swell too rough on a bad day, so trips depend on conditions. Water temperature ranges from around 19°C in winter to 26°C in summer, so a 5mm wetsuit suits the year. The depths are moderate, mostly five to twenty metres, and the site is gentle enough for newer divers in good conditions, while the variety keeps experienced divers and snorkellers happy. The warmer months bring the clearest water and the most tropical fish.

The combination of accessibility, shallow coral gardens and dependable turtles makes Split Solitary the workhorse of Coffs Harbour diving, ideal for training, snorkelling and relaxed dives, and the obvious first dive of a Solitary Islands trip. Turtle Cove is the signature spot, but the whole island rewards exploration, and the coral gardens are a draw for photographers. It pairs naturally with the marine park's other islands, from the anemone reefs of North Solitary to the deeper offshore sites, so a few days at Coffs can range from the easy to the demanding.

Split Solitary Island is the friendly face of the Solitary Islands. Coral gardens, kelp beds and sleeping turtles, all in shallow, accessible water a short boat ride from Coffs Harbour, make it the marine park's most welcoming dive. It is where many divers first meet the strange, rich overlap of tropical and temperate life that makes this coast so special.

## Site Access and Logistics

Split Solitary Island is a boat dive about twenty minutes from Coffs Harbour, on the New South Wales mid-north coast. There is no shore access, and the island is dived by the local charter operators, who run it as the most accessible site in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Coffs Harbour is about five hours' drive north of Sydney and is served by regular flights.

The moderate depths, mostly five to twenty metres, and the sheltered bays make Split Solitary suitable for divers from a competent Open Water level, as well as for snorkelling and training, with the variety to keep more experienced divers engaged. A surface marker buoy is standard on the boat dives, and a 5mm wetsuit suits the water. The site needs reasonable visibility and a settled surface to be at its best, so trips depend on the conditions. As part of a marine park, the reef is protected, so divers take only photographs and leave the coral and turtles undisturbed.

Charters to Split Solitary Island run from Coffs Harbour, including through [JettyDive](https://jettydive.com.au/diving-coffs-harbour/split-solitary-island/).

## Sources

- JettyDive, Split Solitary Island: [https://jettydive.com.au/diving-coffs-harbour/split-solitary-island/](https://jettydive.com.au/diving-coffs-harbour/split-solitary-island/) - JettyDive, diving the Solitary Islands: [https://jettydive.com.au/diving-the-solitary-islands/](https://jettydive.com.au/diving-the-solitary-islands/) - Divernet, Coffs Harbour and the South Solitary Islands: [https://divernet.com/world-dives/coffs-harbour-the-south-solitary-islands/](https://divernet.com/world-dives/coffs-harbour-the-south-solitary-islands/) - Just Gotta Dive, exploring the Solitary Islands Marine Park: [https://www.justgottadive.com/dive_resources/travel_articles/exploring-australias-solitary-islands-marine-park-coffs-harbors-best](https://www.justgottadive.com/dive_resources/travel_articles/exploring-australias-solitary-islands-marine-park-coffs-harbors-best) - Coffs Coast, Solitary Islands Marine Park dive book: [https://www.coffscoast.com/solitary-island-marine-park-dive-book/](https://www.coffscoast.com/solitary-island-marine-park-dive-book/)