Meet the site
Banksia Point is the quietest of the Ricketts Point sanctuary entries, a modest sandstone point between Quiet Corner and the yacht club that most visitors drive past on the way to the teahouse. It is also the shallowest: the reef flat is barely a metre deep and the outer ledges only reach about 3 m, so this is a site for high tide and calm water, and it is snorkelled more than it is dived. What it offers is close-to-shore reef with everything the sanctuary is known for and almost no company. The ledges and gutters hold zebrafish, scalyfin, blennies, leatherjackets, moonlighters and juvenile snapper, the sand patches have flathead, fiddler rays and small stingrays, and a slow look under the overhangs finds octopus, cushion stars, urchins and nudibranchs. Seagrass along the reef edge is worth checking for pipefish and seahorses. Because the water is so shallow it is a good site for confidence-building snorkel sessions, for children, and for photographers who want tame fish in bright light, and it is a pleasant, easy night dive with a straight steps-to-beach entry. Its limitations are the same shallowness (nothing to see at low tide except exposed rock), the lack of any facilities and the crossing of Beach Road with gear. Most divers treat it as a starting point for a longer traverse: enter here at high water and drift south-east with the reef on the right to the yacht club beach, where a second car or a short walk back along the Bay Trail completes the loop.
What you might see
Snapper (juvenile pinkies), flathead, dusky morwong, zebrafish, old wives, moonlighters, scalyfin, Tasmanian blennies, blue-throat wrasse, leatherjackets, octopus, smooth stingrays, southern fiddler rays (banjo sharks), southern eagle rays, Port Jackson sharks, sea urchins, cushion stars, nudibranchs, seahorses and pipefish in seagrass
Location
Small reef point within Ricketts Point Marine Sanctuary off the steps opposite Coronet Grove, Beach Road, Beaumaris, 500 m south-east of Quiet Corner and 400 m north-west of Tea House Reef.
Facilities nearby
Street parking in Coronet Grove; no toilets at this entry (nearest at Ricketts Point Teahouse 500 m south-east); nearest air fills Scuba Culture
Before you make plans
Conditions, access and operator schedules can change. This is a location guide, not a dive plan. Ask a local operator about current conditions and suitability for your training and experience.
Sources & further reading
scubadoctor.com.auscubadoctor.com.auparks.vic.gov.auRecord updated 27 Sept 2026. Source claims are being reviewed.