Nearly every weekend, scuba divers can be found at the Tweed River dive site, either doing scuba dive training or simply enjoying getting under the water
Location of the Tweed River Dive Site
The Tweed River dive site is located on the northern bank of the Tweed River, about 500 metres from the river mouth. There is a car park and a large grassed area; perfect for gearing up and pre-dive briefing.
Access to the water is via short scramble over rocks then onto a concrete platform where the water laps at high tide. This concrete platform has been built over the years by various scuba divers and scuba dive schools and now provides an easy access and exit location
The GPS coordinates (Decimal Degrees) for the Tweed River Dive Site are:
-28.169644
153.549213
When to Dive at the Tweed River Dive Site
The best time to do a shore scuba dive at the Tweed River is on the turn of the high tide as the dive site is impacted by tidal flows. For a forty minute time underwater, entry should be about twenty minutes before the high tide.
Diving on the change of tide is also the optimum for the best visibility underwater.
Details on the Tweed River Dive Site
The Tweed River dive site is not known for good visibility. Its attraction is mainly for scuba dive training courses and an easy place to simply get wet on a scuba dive.
The maximum depth is around 40 feet; with visibility usually around 20 to 30 feet.
The ease of access makes Tweed River dive site especially good for initial training in night diving. The easy entry and exit, and gear up area means a night dive can be conducted in relative safety.
What’s to See at the Tweed River Dive Site
The Tweed River dive site has some unique aspects. For many years, an old bath-tub was a common feature at the bottom. Many divers in South East Queensland would have done basic training like mask clearing and buddy breathing around the Tweed River bath-tub.
Soft corals cover the rocks on the Tweed River bank. Schools of bream wander through the dive site, and the occasional octopus can be found lurking under rocks on the bottom of the river.
One diving activity at the Tweed River is to collect sinkers. The fish life attracts fishermen who cast their lines from the riverbank to try their luck. With the rocks on the bottom, there are many snags which means the hapless fisherman loses his or her tackle. This makes it possible to collect a large amount of sinkers for making into scuba dive weights.
Safety When Diving at the Tweed River Dive Site
Because the Tweed River dive site is in a river, there are always a number of boats in the area. This means a dive flag should always be used.
Some training schools will establish a stationery dive flag floating above their training dive. Divers have been known to drag a dive flag along as they swim; the dive flag floating above on the surface while they explore underwater.
Many experienced divers don’t like scuba diving at the Tweed River dive site as they claim it is boring and uninteresting. However, when considering the advantages of the Tweed River; such as easy entry and exits for shore diving, safe conditions and its location on the southern end of Australia’s Gold Coast, the Tweed River dive site is more than just a scuba dive training site.
Bruce Iliff - Hello from an Australian freelancer! I’ve been scratching articles together in Australia in a range of subjects for a number of ...
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