Located at the eastern tip of Bass Point, Bushrangers Bay is one of the few parts of the coast that is totally closed to all types of fishing.
It is well protected from wind and swell and offers relatively easy access, if you don’t mind a few stairs. It is a very popular site for scuba divers and for dive training, including free diving.
Its safety makes it a great place to take young children for their first taste of snorkelling in the ocean.
The quickest access is from the car park via the stairs down to the cobble beach.
There is also a track from the southern end of the carpark that runs along a ridge on the southern side of the Bay. From here it’s possible to walk down the rocks and head further east to find a number of easy access points.
As one heads out of the Bay, it gets deep very quickly and ocean predators like kingfish and the occasional seal can come in close.
Inside the Bay, the eastern central part is about 13m to 15m deep and, if you’re on scuba it’s possible to see sea tulips, sponges and bryzoans growing on the rocks. Most of the area from about 6m to 13m is urchin barrens.
In the shallows are small forests of kelp and cray weed. At the head of the Bay is a small forest of the seagrass, Posidonia australis, also called strapweed. This is a true grass, not a seaweed and this particular species is fully protected in NSW.
The fish life is abundant, with some large bream, red morwongs, black reef leatherjackets, mado, grey morwong and the occasional beardie.
There is also a small colony of grey nurse sharks, also a fully protected (and endangered) species. They tend to hang out in the deeper areas but I have seen them in depths of 4m, so they would be easily visible to snorkellers on the surface.
They are quite timid and are best viewed by not chasing them around. If you’re on scuba it is best to lie quietly on the bottom and they may come in for a close look.