WET Links

Sydney diving links that work: swell and wind forecasts, beach webcams, sea temperature maps and satellite imagery of the seabed.

FORECASTS

WEBCAMS North to South

Manly Manly2 North Bondi Clovelly

DIVE SITES AROUND SYDNEY

On this website you can see some shore dive sites maps and descriptions, complementary to what is the most comprehensive reference: Michael McFadyen’s website. If you are looking for coordinates for a boat dive you can convert Michael’s ones (in AUS66 format) into the more common WGS 84 with this converter and then save them in Google Maps or with a specific navigation free app such as Commander Compass Go or Pure GPS for your smartphone. Also, no descriptions but a very convenient kmz file with hundreds of locations you can load into Google Earth from Wayne Heming website.Other coordinates for the artificial reefs of Botany Bay.

SATELLITE PICTURES FOR CHECKING THE COASTLINE SEABED

Googlemaps - generally poor visibility of the seabed due to glare from the sun at the zenith but if you install the free Google Earth application you can browse old satellite imagery and find better images (yet not recent).
SIX Maps by NSW Government (excellent seafloor visibility if you don’t zoom in too much)
Whereis maps another set of maps worth checking, for satellite images select the layer bottom right in the page
Microsoft Bing worth checking as it usually has good pictures with little sun glare

SATELLITE PICTURES FOR CHECKING THE WATER CLARITY

Copernicus Here the water quality assessment by Environment NSW.

MARINE MAPS

SEED, a service by NSW Government for visualizing datasets across different surveys. Best resource for seeing the seabed rendered at 5 x 5 metres resolution and with precise bathymetry. The base maps require layers to be selected among the many available and whatever you select does not get saved when you exit the page, so with the help of the SEED programmers I have created the two parametric links below for ease of use. Wait a few seconds for the layers to load. If using a smartphone, you need to maximise the map by tapping on the little left arrow right above "How to use the SEED map".

Selection n. 1: with layers optimised to show the seabed bathymetry.

Selection n. 2: with layers optimised to show reef vs sand.

SEAMAP - for exploring the composition of the seabed around Australia, less spectacular than SEED but worth a look. You can access to this map created by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS), University of Tasmania.Click here , zoom to the area you want to see and select the following layer for best results: SEAMAP AUSTRALIA NATIONAL BENTHIC HABITAT LAYER. Be mindful that empirical evidence suggests the maps (last update 2017) are not precise for the needs of dive planning when it comes to the exact position of the sand lines against the reef. Compared to the maps I have put together by direct observation with GPS (Cabbage Tree Bay, Shark Point, Curl Curl, Queenscliff) there can be a difference of up to 100m in the position of the sand line.
RMS: Middle Harbour Port Jackson Sydney ocean side Botany Bay
C-MAP
NAVIONICS: Underwater topography

UNDERWATER VISIBILITY

Video recording of a very informative presentation by our member Jack Hannan on the factors affecting visibility in Sydney

FISH IDENTIFICATION

iNaturalist - once you create a (free) account you can upload fish pictures and in a few seconds the iNaturalist will suggest the most similar fish identities
Identifying sharks and rays by NSW DPI, an excellent visual guide
Fishes of Australia - comprehensive list of the fish of our waters, scroll the gallery to find what you are looking to identify
Nudibranch of NSW - by CSIRO
List of marine species protected in Australiaunder the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (EPBC Act)

WRECKS

Search the maritime heritage sites map on the Heritage NSW website containing 2800 wrecks.
A private initiative for finding wrecks NSW Wrecks