Hugo's Trench

The northern sections of Australia's coastline offer some of the world's most popular beaches. These areas north of Sydney extend around 600km and are jam-packed with offerings tourists pour over. A great example of this is Byron Bay, so named in the 17th century by Captain James Cook. North of Cape Byron, near Byron Bay beach is Julian Rocks, NSW first marine protected area. Despite the excellent biodiversity its distance affects the amount of locals who venture there. The main dive site on the southern end is known as Hugo's Trench, which starts where Turtle Hole ends. Its 16m deep trench leads up to the island running north to south the graduates gently back up to 5 before culminating. The marine life is prolific, during the dive there is a 12m drop off where there are plenty of turtles to keep company. Here, the wall dips down even further to 20m. The dive ends by following a southern path and on a ledge for the safety stop.