Meet the site
Fish and Chips sits east of the gutter leading to the cave's deep entrance, on Fish Rock's northern side, and is reached by swimming south-east from the main shark gutter mooring along a wall or ridge line. En route divers cross the Blind Gutter, easily identified by a single huge black coral tree marking the spot, before the terrain opens into the huge boulders, sand gutters and low ridges that make up the site proper, running out to depths of 35 metres on its outer edge. The name reflects the sheer volume and density of fish here rather than any culinary connection: schools of yellowtail, silver sweep and ladder-finned pomfret pack the water column in numbers dense enough, on the best days, to reduce visibility to a few metres purely from the mass of fish moving past, and jewfish and kingfish cruise the margins looking for an opening. Grey nurse sharks regularly patrol both the gutters and the more open ground here, and wobbegongs sit tucked among the boulders, making this as much a shark and fish-life site as it is a scenic one. The standard plan uses roughly half the available bottom time pushing east through the boulder field before turning back, either retracing the route through the Deep Entrance Gutter or taking a more southerly line back over deeper sand and rock to the mooring — a choice usually made on the day depending on current and remaining gas. One long-time local diver has called it one of the most remarkable fish-life dives anywhere, and while that is a big claim, the sheer scale of the schooling activity on a good day, layered over grey nurse sharks and a genuinely interesting boulder landscape, makes a strong case for it as an underrated stop on the Fish Rock circuit compared with the more famous cave and Pinnacle.
What you might see
Grey nurse sharks, wobbegongs, dense schools of yellowtail, silver sweep, ladder-finned pomfret, jewfish, kingfish
Location
A boulder and ridge site east of the cave's deep entrance gutter on Fish Rock's north side, reached from the main shark gutter mooring.
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
michaelmcfadyenscuba.infoRecord updated 27 Sept 2026. Source claims are being reviewed.