Geoffrey Bay

Geoffrey Bay on Magnetic Island, off Townsville, is the site of the SS Moltke wreck, a shallow dive of no more than about 6 metres, depending on the tide. A large blue buoy with a two-hour public-use limit marks it among the yellow snorkel-trail floats. You can enter from shore at the turn-around of the old vehicle ferry landing.

Visibility can be a challenge here, so follow the mooring line down and use it to stay oriented. From the base, find the experiment platform with its metal arms, shoot a compass bearing of 60 degrees, and swim about 15 metres to a large cylinder lying across the coral with the shape of a ship's mast. That is the start point for swimming the wreck in circuits. Keep the compass clear of the metal platform.

Move slowly. Resident schools of sweetlips, batfish, yellowtail fusiliers and Moses perch will let you swim among them if you approach gently, and juvenile coral trout, drummer, rabbitfish and the occasional flowery cod are about. Painted crayfish sit under parts of the hull where it meets the sand. The surrounding coral heads and bommies draw white, cream, black and purple nudibranchs, and anemones are easy to find.