Cook Island

Just a 15-minute boat ride from Fingel Point in Tweed Heads is Cook Island Marine Sanctuary, where vast schools of pelagic fish, as well as rays and sharks, abound.

Loggerhead and green turtles are common all year round in this turtle sanctuary and bottlenose dolphins pop up, too.

Rock caves and coral gardens and depths of up to 18 metres means less experienced divers get to experience a variety of attractions such as schools of taylor, jewfish, leopard and shovelnose sharks, which haunt the area in summer.