New South Wales · Attraction
Solitary Islands Marine Park
Tropical and temperate seas meet
schedule 1 min read / Updated Jun 2026
Stretching 75 kilometres of coastline from Coffs Harbour north to the Sandon River, the Solitary Islands Marine Park covers more than 71,000 hectares of ocean, estuary, and headland. Declared in 1998, it protects a unique zone where the warm East Australian Current collides with cooler southern waters, producing an extraordinary overlap of tropical, subtropical, and temperate marine species found nowhere else in combination along the Australian east coast.
The park is home to hundreds of fish species, more than 90 coral species, and critically endangered grey nurse sharks that aggregate at submerged pinnacles off the Solitary Islands. Dive operators in Coffs Harbour run daily half-day dive and snorkel charters to the islands, and encounters with rays, turtles, blue gropers, and giant cuttlefish are routine on calmer days.
Above the water, the park's coastal stretches become a whale-watching corridor from May to November as humpback and southern right whales migrate along the coast. Recreational fishing, kayaking, and wildlife cruises are all popular, with charter operators based at Coffs Harbour Marina.
Entry to the marine park is free for visitors accessing it by boat or on foot from the coast. The Marine Parks Office at Coffs Harbour provides zoning maps, fishing rules, and permit information for those planning more extended use of the sanctuary zones.
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