Natural Attractions

Bougainville Reef is a small reef in the Northern Coral Sea surrounded by some amazing dive sites. Only four kilometres in diameter, and offering no shelter in rough weather, Bougainville Reef is usually only dived on a stop-off between other reefs in this remote area.

Wall diving is the name of the game at Bougainville Reef, with walls plunging into one kilometre offering exciting diving. Decorating these walls are spectacular corals – giant soft corals, red whip corals, wide gorgonian fans and black coral trees.

Cruising these walls are large pelagic fish like barracuda, trevally, tuna and mackerel, and often following them are grey reef sharks, whitetip reef sharks and silvertip sharks. Many caves, gutters and ledges are also found at Bougainville Reef, so take a torch to explore these darker recesses.

There is also a shipwreck to investigate at Bougainville Reef, with the broken up remains of the MV Antonia Tarabocchia scattered in depths from 6 metres to 18 metres.