Meet the site
Tomaree Head, Boat Harbour, One Mile Beach and Birubi Point together make up the scenic ocean-facing string of beaches and headlands along the Tomaree Peninsula and toward Anna Bay at the southern entrance to Port Stephens, and while they are firmly part of the area's tourism and outdoor recreation identity, none of them functions as a dedicated scuba diving destination in published dive guides. Tomaree Head, with its well-known summit walking track and sweeping coastal views, has rocky platforms at its base that offer occasional calm-day snorkelling, while Boat Harbour is a small, genuinely sheltered cove that is the most consistently calm and swimmable of the group, making it the most realistic option for an easy shore snorkel or shallow dive among this cluster. One Mile Beach and Birubi Point, by contrast, are open surf beaches — beautiful and popular for swimming, surfing and, at Birubi, sandboarding on the adjacent Stockton sand dunes, but generally unsuitable for diving given their exposure and the genuine rip current risk in typical surf conditions. Marine life at any of these spots, where diveable, reflects the general open-coast, low-relief sand-and-rock habitat typical of exposed ocean beaches rather than anything distinctive enough to draw dedicated dive traffic. This cluster is best understood as part of the broader Port Stephens tourism landscape — beaches to visit, walk and swim at — rather than as scuba dive sites in their own right, and visiting divers should direct their diving time to the area's genuine dive destinations (Fly Point, Halifax Park, the Port Stephens islands and Broughton Island) rather than expecting a serious dive experience here.
What you might see
General open-coast sand-and-rock fauna where diveable; not otherwise notable for marine life
Location
A string of ocean beaches and headlands along the seaward side of the Tomaree Peninsula and toward Anna Bay — Tomaree Head, Boat Harbour, One Mile Beach and Birubi Point — offering scenic snorkelling and occasional calm-day shore diving rather than dedicated scuba destinations.
Facilities nearby
Beach car parks, toilets, patrolled sections in season at the main beaches; Tomaree Head walking track; Birubi Point sand dune access.
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.
Record updated 27 Sept 2026. Source claims are being reviewed.