People heading to Shelly Beach over the Christmas and January holidays will have lifeguards on duty for the first time, bringing regular patrols to one of Manly’s most popular coastal spots during its busiest summer weeks.
NBC lifeguards will patrol the beach from 21 December until 31 January 2027, with the service funded through the BCC’s special variation to rates. The protected marine reserve in Cabbage Tree Bay is popular with snorkellers and scuba divers, while about one million people use the 1.5-kilometre Marine Parade promenade linking Manly and Shelly beaches each year.
Lifeguards Join An Already Busy Stretch of Coast
Shelly Beach has previously operated without regular lifeguard or lifesaver patrols, despite its popularity and the number of people moving between it and Manly Beach. An Emergency Response Beacon is already installed at the beach after the location was identified as high risk.
The beacon allows members of the public to contact the Surf Life Saving State Operations Centre directly in an emergency. The new summer patrol will add lifeguards on the beach itself during the peak holiday period, rather than relying solely on emergency response infrastructure.
Ms Sue Heins said the patrol would add to existing beach safety services during the busiest part of summer. BCC lifeguards will also work alongside Surf Life Saving NSW and the NSW Government’s Shark Management Program, with drone surveillance used to help identify hazards.
The wider 2026–27 patrol season is already under way across the Northern Beaches. Freshwater Beach patrols began on 29 August, other seasonal beaches returned to patrol from 26 September, while Manly and Dee Why beaches remain patrolled throughout the year.
The new patrol follows several serious incidents at and near Shelly Beach in recent years. A man in his 40s died in June 2026 after being pulled unconscious from the water while spearfishing near the beach. A person also died following a scuba diving incident at Shelly Beach in November 2024, while a 32-year-old South Korean tourist drowned there in January 2024.
Across the Northern Beaches, more than 14 million beach visits are recorded each year. BCC lifeguards carried out 960 rescues last season, provided first aid to 4,017 people and undertook more than 530,000 preventative actions.
Shelly Beach’s first patrol will run through the Christmas and January holiday rush before finishing on 31 January 2027, giving beachgoers an on-site lifeguard presence during one of the most heavily used periods of the year.
Manly is positioning itself as more than a beach destination with the launch of a newSurf + Sound Festivalcombining culture, sport and entertainment across its iconic waterfront.
For years, Manly’s busiest period has arrived with the peak summer rush. Now, attention is turning to the weeks before the traditional holiday season.
The new Surf + Sound Festival aims to bring people into the area earlier, creating activity across Manly Wharf and Manly Beach while giving residents and visitors more reasons to spend time in the suburb. Rather than focusing on a single attraction, the event combines live entertainment, sport, food and public art in an effort to showcase different sides of the community.
The festival is scheduled to run from Oct. 16 to Nov. 1, giving businesses a chance to tap into visitor spending ahead of the summer peak.
While a strong music lineup is expected to attract attention, organisers are positioning the festival as a broader celebration of Northern Beaches culture.
Acts announced for the event include Skegss, The Whitlams, Skunkhour, The Beautiful Girls, GANGgajang, Winston Surfshirt and Mudhoney. Their performances will be spread across the festival period, helping create a steady stream of activity around the waterfront and beach precinct.
Away from the stage, visitors can expect surf-focused events, family-friendly experiences and public spaces transformed through large-scale art installations.
Surfing remains central to the festival’s identity.
World champion surfer Joel Parkinson is set to lead surfing competitions, linking the event to one of the area’s most recognised local passions. At the same time, artist Jeremyville is curating public artworks designed to bring colour and creativity into shared spaces around Manly.
The combination reflects a deliberate effort to blend sport, culture and community rather than treating them as separate attractions. Families, artists, surfers, local residents and visitors are all being targeted as part of the festival’s audience.
The festival is being hosted by Artemus Group, which acquired Manly Wharf in 2024.
The company has indicated the event forms part of a broader push to strengthen community engagement and boost tourism in the area. For local businesses, that could mean increased foot traffic during a period that traditionally sits between winter’s slowdown and summer’s busiest months.
The real test will be whether the festival can establish itself as an annual fixture. If crowds respond, Manly could gain a new signature event that extends the economic and cultural benefits of the summer season beyond the usual calendar.
The strength of Manly’s high-performance swimming pathway was on display in Vancouver as athlete Lillie McPherson and coach Justin Rothwell both played key roles for Australia at the 2026 Junior Pan Pacific Swimming Championships.
Held in Canada in August, the championships brought together many of the world’s top emerging swimmers, providing a major test for Australia’s Junior Dolphins team. McPherson rose to the challenge, helping Australia secure silver medals in the women’s 4x100m and 4x200m freestyle relays while also reaching four individual finals.
McPherson’s achievements are the latest chapter in a journey that began at the Manly Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton Aquatic Centre, where she has trained since her early teenage years.
Competing on the international stage, she reached the finals of the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly. Those performances came against strong opposition from swimming nations including the United States, Japan, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore.
Rather than being defined by a single race, the championships highlighted the depth of McPherson’s abilities across both freestyle and butterfly events. Her ability to qualify for multiple finals reinforced the consistency that has become a hallmark of her swimming.
The Vancouver campaign followed an outstanding year at the Australian Age Championships, where McPherson claimed gold medals in the 50m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly. She also earned silver medals in the 100m freestyle and 200m individual medley.
Those results secured her place on the Australian Junior Dolphins team and further established her as one of the country’s most successful age-group swimmers.
International competition is not new to McPherson. At the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago, she won silver in the 100m butterfly and added bronze medals during the meet, building valuable experience that has helped shape her progress in recent seasons.
The Manly connection extended beyond the starting blocks.
While McPherson was racing for Australia in Vancouver, Manly Andrew ‘Boy’ Charlton Aquatic Centre Head Coach Justin Rothwell was serving as one of only six coaches selected for the Australian Junior Dolphins team.
Reports from the championships indicated the Australian squad featured many athletes making their international debut. Rothwell noted that swimmers, coaches and support staff worked closely throughout the campaign and delivered strong performances against quality international opposition.
His selection, alongside McPherson’s success in the pool, highlighted the contribution Manly’s swimming community made to Australia’s junior program at the championships.
At 18, McPherson’s development continues to gather momentum.
According to publicly available swimming recruitment reports, she has committed to continue her academic and sporting career at the University of Florida in the United States, one of the leading collegiate swimming programs in the world.
The move is expected to provide another important step in her development as she pursues higher levels of international competition and works towards her long-term goal of earning selection to Australia’s senior Dolphins team.
Her achievements add to a strong period for swimmers and coaches connected to Manly programs, with local representatives continuing to leave their mark on the national and international stage.
Powered by an unbreakable community spirit and relentless local grit, the Manly Wheel Eagles have written themselves into the history books by capturing their maiden national championship.
The breakthrough victory in Melbourne adds another golden chapter to a club that started from grassroots dreams just a few short years ago. Behind the scenes, local families, dedicated volunteers, and passionate coaches have built a welcoming home for athletes of all abilities.
Star player Tom O’Neill-Thorne embodied that fighting spirit on the court, driving his teammates forward to lift the championship trophy and earning Finals Most Valuable Player honours along the way.
How does a local community club transform into a powerhouse on the national stage?
The secret lies right at home on the Northern Beaches, where the Manly Wheelchair Basketball Association operates as a true community-driven charity. Embedded seamlessly within the regional basketball network, the club opens its doors to everyone from first-time social players trying out a sport for the first time to elite athletes chasing international dreams.
That local dedication rippled across the wider national league, where supporters watched the Sydney Blues claim the women’s crown and local legends like the PlayOn Program receive top community honours.
Local success is rarely achieved in isolation, and the team’s triumph is deeply tied to the people who paved the way decades before. During a weekend filled with celebration, eleven members of the legendary nineteen-ninety-six gold medal-winning Australian Rollers stepped onto the court to a roaring crowd, bridging thirty years of sporting history.
That spirit of legacy continued as nine new life members entered the hall of fame, proudly inducting female athletes into those elite ranks for the very first time.
What stops anyone from stepping onto the court and trying something new?
With strong backing from local government support and dedicated partners like BrightSky Australia and Sargood on Collaroy, the path from local recreation to elite competition has never been more accessible.
Whether you want to cheer from the sidelines, volunteer your time, or roll onto the court for a social session, the Manly Wheel Eagles have proven that local dreams can reach all the way to the top. The season may have concluded with glittering medals and shining trophies, but for the local community, this milestone feels less like a finish line and much more like the start of an exciting new era.
It weighs more than three tonnes, glitters with hand-laid gold and contains pieces of Australian and British history. Yet one of the most remarkable things about the Commonwealth Royal Coach is where — and how — it has been built.
For years, inside Jim Frecklington’s workshop at Manly’s North Head, painters, metalworkers, leatherworkers, engineers and other specialists have been turning his idea for a ceremonial carriage intended for King Charles III into a working vehicle capable of being drawn by six horses.
Frecklington will not see the last of their work completed. He died in Manly on Friday, 11 September, aged 76, after a lengthy battle with cancer.
The carriage was tantalisingly close. His friend and vehicle body painter Owen Webb said after Frecklington’s death that he expected it to be about 98 per cent complete once the immediate finishing work was done.
What remains is now in the hands of the people Frecklington gathered around him — the same craftspeople he had already said knew enough about the project to carry on if his health prevented him from finishing it himself.
Frecklington carried much of the design in his head, but turning it into a three-tonne carriage required skills scattered well beyond the Northern Beaches.
Webb, from Moss Vale, worked on all three of Frecklington’s royal coaches. Giving the new carriage its deep two-tone finish involved weeks of preparation, primer and topcoat, and at one point the sheer size of the body meant moving it to a Sydney spray booth large enough to take it.
Then there was the decorative work. Sydney fine-art painter Paula Church whose association with Frecklington stretched back decades, hand-painted four coats of arms and worked on the gold leaf. It was painstaking work carried out in stages over a period stretching into years.
Decorative detail on Jim Frecklington’s earlier Diamond Jubilee State Coach at the Royal Mews, featuring a Welsh leek, Scottish thistle, Irish flax and English rose — a fine example of the painstaking work that goes into building a Royal Coach. Photo Credit: Jordi Ferrer/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
In Wollongong, metal spinner Tony Edwards was called on to reproduce specialist exterior light fittings, having previously made fittings for Frecklington’s earlier coaches.
The wheels took the project much further afield.
At Maryborough in Queensland, woodcarver Kevin Banting carved patterns used in their manufacture before the work moved into the foundry and engineering process at Wm Olds & Sons. Adult apprentices Lachlan Hansen and Cameron Stuart helped manufacture aluminium spokes destined to become part of the coach’s gilded wheels.
By the time those wheels reached Manly, they carried the work of people roughly 1,000 kilometres from the workshop where the carriage was coming together.
That was how much of Frecklington’s project worked: not one man somehow practising every old trade himself, but one coachmaker knowing which skills he needed and where to find them.
Putting His Own Home Behind the Project
Frecklington also put something more personal into the Commonwealth Royal Coach: his own money.
ABC reported in 2024, while he was alive and the coach was under construction, that Frecklington had mortgaged his home to finance this particular project.
There was some precedent for the unusual approach.
His earlier Diamond Jubilee State Coach was not originally a conventional Royal Household commission either. Contemporary British reporting records that Frecklington initiated the project himself. The Australian Government contributed to its cost, while Frecklington was understood to have met the balance.
Once completed, however, the coach was acquired by the Royal Collection Trust, largely using money from a private donation, and entered royal service in 2014.
Nine years later, it was the carriage that took King Charles III and Queen Camilla from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Abbey for their Coronation.
Frecklington had hoped his newest coach would also be ready for the Coronation in May 2023. Cancer treatment slowed the work and the deadline passed.
The Commonwealth Royal Coach remains a privately initiated project intended for King Charles III. We have found no public Royal Household announcement establishing that it was formally commissioned by the King or Buckingham Palace.
Frecklington, in other words, was again prepared to build first.
JIM FRECKLINGTON: THE MAN BEHIND THE COACH
William James “Jim” Frecklington MVO OAM (’68) works on the Commonwealth Royal Coach in his North Head workshop.
Photo Credit:
The Scots College
William James “Jim” Frecklington MVO OAM was 76 when he died in Manly on 11 September 2026, following a lengthy battle with cancer.
His connection with royal carriages stretched back decades. As a young Australian in Britain, Frecklington worked at Windsor Castle and later at the Royal Mews, where he cared for ceremonial horses and learned about the carriages they pulled.
Back in Australia, he built the Australian State Coach, presented to Queen Elizabeth II as Australia’s Bicentennial gift in 1988, and later created the Diamond Jubilee State Coach. He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community through the design and construction of horse-drawn vehicles.
The Diamond Jubilee State Coach entered royal service in 2014 and carried King Charles III and Queen Camilla to Westminster Abbey for their Coronation in 2023.
His final project was the Commonwealth Royal Coach, intended for King Charles III. Frecklington knew illness might prevent him from completing it and said in 2024 that the craftspeople working alongside him had the knowledge to carry on if he could not. That is now what they are doing.
Opera House Handles, Harbour Bridge Steel
The Commonwealth Royal Coach may look as though it belongs to another century, but Frecklington was not building an antique.
Electric windows and climate control sit inside a traditional ceremonial body. Around that modern engineering he assembled something approaching a travelling collection of history.
Timber from Westminster Abbey was incorporated into the coach. Its decoration includes the national flowers of the Commonwealth’s 56 member countries, while portraits inside trace more than a thousand years of monarchy.
Australia is physically built into it too.
Steel from the Sydney Harbour Bridge was incorporated into the steps and undercarriage. Saddler Sonja Giesekam told Equestrian Life that she was given handles that had once been on doors at the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall and asked to transform them into handholds behind the cabin.
She moulded them, covered them and stitched their leather by hand. Giesekam and Frecklington then sourced leather from third-generation Sydney supplier NSW Leather to complement the silk used inside.
The result is a curious meeting of eras: old-fashioned hand stitching around pieces of the Opera House, fitted to a horse-drawn carriage with electric windows.
Frecklington had done something similar before. His Diamond Jubilee State Coach combined hand-applied gold leaf and traditional carriage work with an aluminium body, hydraulic stabilisers and electric windows. The Royal Family says almost all of its craftsmanship was sourced in Australia.
In December 2025, the nearly finished carriage was blessed inside Frecklington’s workshop by The Scots College Community Chaplain, Reverend Conrad Nixon. Frecklington, a former Scots student, was there.
By then he had already considered what would happen if his health stopped him completing the job. In a 2024 interview, he spoke of the “wonderful men and women” involved and said they knew enough to carry on.
That is what they must now do.
Webb and the remaining team are completing the work Frecklington left behind. Once the coach is finished, the stated plan is for it to be transported to London.
If it makes that journey, the carriage will carry the work of a Moss Vale vehicle painter, a Sydney artist, a Wollongong metal spinner, a Hunter-region leatherworker, a Queensland woodcarver and engineering apprentices — all brought together by a coachmaker working from North Head.
For something intended for a King in Britain, an extraordinary amount of it was made a very long way from Buckingham Palace.
Manly was among the first Northern Beaches communities included in a joint e-bike operation under new seizure laws, giving riders a clearer picture of what can happen when a bike does not meet NSW requirements.
Police and Transport for NSW officers patrolled Manly, Curl Curl, Dee Why and Avalon on Friday, 11 September 2026, targeting illegal, modified and high-powered e-bikes.
The four areas had been identified following recent incidents of illegal, dangerous and reckless e-bike use across the Northern Beaches.
Across the wider operation, police seized 36 e-bikes and issued 16 penalty notices and 46 cautions for offences including helmet and mobile phone breaches.
It was the first joint operation of its kind since expanded powers to seize and dispose of illegal e-bikes became enforceable on 21 August 2026.
For Manly riders, the operation also demonstrated how suspected non-compliant bikes can now be checked. Officers used a portable dynamometer to test power and speed, with three of the seized bikes found to be non-compliant through the testing process.
Under current NSW requirements, a legal e-bike can have up to 500 watts of maximum continuous rated power.
Throttle-only assistance must cut out at 6km/h, while powered assistance during pedalling must stop above 25km/h. A bike that exceeds those limits is illegal even if its additional speed or power can be restricted by an app, switch, code or other software.
Those requirements sit alongside the usual bicycle road rules. E-bike riders must wear approved helmets and comply with restrictions on mobile phone use when riding.
Police and Transport for NSW officers also used the Northern Beaches patrols to speak with riders and carry out community education alongside enforcement.
The new laws mean an illegal e-bike can now be taken off the road rather than simply attracting a penalty.
Owners of bikes seized during the operation have 14 days to notify police if a bike had been stolen and was being used by somebody else at the time. After that period, seized illegal bikes are set to be destroyed.
The Manly checks were part of a wider operation that also found an e-bike at Warriewood which police alleged could exceed 90km/h. It had been ridden by a 14-year-old boy. A food delivery rider was also stopped with a bike police alleged had been modified and was non-compliant.
Similar operations are expected to continue, with riders being advised to check that their e-bikes meet NSW requirements before using them on public roads and paths.
St Mary’s Catholic Primary Schoolat Manly andSt John the Baptist Catholic Primary Schoolat Freshwater will share a principal under a Catholic Schools Broken Bay leadership restructure affecting 14 primary schools across the Northern Beaches and North Shore. The two Manly-Freshwater Parish schools are among seven pairs moving to a model in which one principal will oversee two campuses.
Marc Reicher, currently Senior Executive Strategic Delivery for the Northern Beaches Precinct at CSBB, has been appointed principal of both schools from 12 October 2026. Reicher will work alongside retiring St Mary’s principal Paul McGuire during Term 4 before taking full responsibility for both school communities from the start of the 2027 school year.
St John the Baptist is currently led by Alicia van der Merwe, who will move to become principal of St John the Apostle Catholic Primary School at Narraweena and St Kevin’s Catholic Primary School at Dee Why under the same restructure. Current parish material lists McGuire as principal of St Mary’s and van der Merwe as principal of St John the Baptist.
Two parish schools move under one principal
St Mary’s and St John the Baptist already operate within Manly-Freshwater Parish, which includes Catholic communities in both suburbs. St Mary’s is based in Manly, while St John the Baptist is in Freshwater. The parish also includes St Paul’s Catholic College at Manly.
CSBB has said the shared-principal arrangement is intended to strengthen collaboration, build leadership capacity and allow expertise to be shared between school communities. Its letter to families says Reicher will maintain a presence at both campuses and will be supported by on-site leadership teams.
The wider restructure also pairs Maria Regina Avalon with Sacred Heart Mona Vale, St Joseph’s Narrabeen with St Rose Collaroy, St John the Apostle Narraweena with St Kevin’s Dee Why, and Our Lady of Good Counsel Forestville with St Martin’s Davidson. Four schools at Asquith, Berowra, Carlingford and Epping are also included.
Union disputes consultation over changes
The Independent Education Union of Australia NSW/ACT Branch lodged a dispute with the Fair Work Commission on 2 September following CSBB’s announcement. The union alleges CSBB failed to meet consultation requirements applying to a major workplace change under relevant enterprise agreements.
Union representatives have questioned how principals will manage responsibilities across two schools and whether additional staffing will be provided when principals divide their time between campuses. The IEU has characterised the model as creating principals who are present at individual schools only part of the time.
CSBB disputes the union’s position and says it complied with its enterprise agreement obligations. The industrial dispute remains unresolved.
Funding changes cited in CSBB’s case
CSBB has linked the leadership restructure to financial pressure caused by changes to government funding for non-government schools. The system says funding across the diocese has fallen by about $90 million a year, with schools in Sydney’s north particularly affected, and argues that shared leadership can reduce administrative costs and direct more resources towards students.
The $90 million figure is a CSBB estimate. A detailed public calculation supporting the amount was not available in the material reviewed for this report.
Commonwealth funding for most non-government schools includes a Capacity to Contribute score. The Australian Government says the score affects base recurrent funding and is calculated using a Direct Measure of Income based on the median income of parents or guardians. The DMI replaced the previous area-based SES measure and has applied to all relevant schools since 2022.
Parent campaign seeks pause to rollout
A parent-led petition is calling for CSBB to pause the shared-principal model until the Fair Work Commission dispute is resolved and further consultation is conducted with families, staff and school communities. St Mary’s and St John the Baptist are among the 10 Northern Beaches schools named in the petition.
The petition raises concerns about consultation, transparency and school stability. It also questions how the model will operate while employment issues remain unresolved.
Manly Jazz 2026 is back, and Manly is about to find its rhythm again. From 18 to 20 September, Australia’s longest-running jazz festival will spread across more than 95 acts, four stages and 12-plus official venues in and around the village.
It is a big weekend, but it still feels local. That is the appeal. You can hear music on the street, in pubs, in a gallery and inside community spaces. Then, before you know it, you are moving with the crowd from one set to the next.
The Corso sets the pace
Bucketty’s Jazz Garden will again bring music, food and drinks to The Corso. It starts on Friday night and runs right through the weekend. That gives the festival a clear social hub and an easy place to settle in.
Elsewhere, the official venues add their own character. The Ivanhoe Hotel and Hotel Steyne will both run live entertainment across the weekend. Donny’s Bar will keep things loose with jazz-forward acoustic sets. Henry G’s Wine Parlour will feature a pianist each night, while Manly Library will host an open mic night on Friday.
Manly Art Gallery & Museum will also play its part. On Saturday night, it will host a ticketed double bill with the Hilary Geddes Quartet and Murmurations. That show brings two strong Sydney jazz voices into one room.
Community stages keep the festival grounded
The festival is not only about bars and late-night sets. St Matthews Manly will showcase school and community bands on Saturday. That keeps the program connected to the next generation of players.
Then Sunday shifts into gospel jazz. Manly Presbyterian Church will host its service in the morning, while St Matthews will hold services at 10am and 5.30pm. It is a familiar part of the festival now, and it gives the weekend a strong community edge.
There is also plenty happening in between. The official venues stretch the music across Manly, so you do not need to stay in one spot for long. That loose, wandering feel is part of what makes the event work.
A few practical bits for the weekend
The festival is free and non-ticketed. You can bring food and non-alcoholic drinks, too. Just note that it is a glass-free event.
Dogs and pets are allowed across the site, but they must stay on a lead. They are not permitted in Bucketty’s Jazz Garden. Assistance animals are welcome.
Parking will be limited at busy times, and a road closure will be in place along North and South Steyne, from Raglan Street to Wentworth Street, from 4pm on Friday 18 September until 11.59pm on Sunday 20 September. Water stations will also be available, and prams are welcome in the Manly CBD event area.
In the end, Manly Jazz 2026 looks set to do what it always does best. It gives Manly a weekend soundtrack, pulls people out onto the streets and turns the town into a place worth lingering in.
Manly is a beach suburb with a strong public face. People pass through all day, every day. That is why the Manly Beach clean-up keeps making sense at 11 South Steyne, on the grass reserve opposite Manly Grill.
Surfrider Foundation Northern Beaches is continuing its Adopt a Beach program there. The aim is practical. Pick up litter. Cut down on pollution. Keep one of Sydney’s busiest beaches looking its best.
The Manly Beach clean-up works because it sits right in the middle of real daily life. People already use the foreshore for swimming, walking, coffee and people-watching. Now they can also use it to do something useful.
The rhythm of a good local event
The clean-ups are still happening on the first Sunday of each month through December 2026, from 3pm to 4pm. That rhythm suits Manly well. It is regular, brief and easy to join without making a whole production of it.
That also helps the event feel like part of the suburb’s routine. It is not an unusual ask. It is just a good one. A bit of time from a lot of people can keep a well-loved beach in better shape.
Surfrider’s local business partners support a social gathering after the clean-up too. That matters in Manly, where community energy often grows from casual meet-ups and quick chats. A clean beach and a friendly catch-up make a good pair.
A bigger coast, one suburb at a time
The Manly Beach clean-up is part of a line of events running from Palm Beach to Manly. That bigger scope gives the local effort some extra weight. It is not just about a single foreshore. It is about the whole northern coastline.
For updates, Surfrider Northern Beaches is posting on Instagram. On event days, look for the Surfrider Adopt a Beach teardrop banners on beachfront reserves.
Local eco-tour operator EcoTreasures is running regular snorkel and nature walk experiences at Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve through to early 2027, giving residents and visitors alike a chance to get up close with one of Sydney’s most celebrated marine environments — right on the doorstep.
The two-and-a-half-hour experience combines a guided nature walk along the Shelly Beach headland with an hour of snorkelling in the reserve itself. All equipment is provided, including wetsuits, flippers, and foam noodles for those who want a little extra support in the water. Tours run with a maximum of eight participants, keeping things genuinely personal rather than the kind of crowded group experience that can take the shine off a morning outdoors.
Cabbage Tree Bay Aquatic Reserve was declared a no-take zone in 2002 to protect its marine life for future generations, and is now regarded as one of the most popular spots for snorkelling and diving in the Sydney region. More than 160 species of fish have been recorded within the reserve, ranging from common temperate species through to tropical fish carried south on the East Australian Current. Snorkellers regularly encounter blue groper, giant cuttlefish, wobbegong sharks, and a resident green turtle, as well as protected species including weedy seadragons and elegant wrasse.
The reserve stretches approximately 20 hectares, from the southern end of Manly Beach across the rocky shores and beaches to the northern end of Shelly Beach. Habitats vary considerably across the reserve, from areas directly exposed to ocean swell to the sheltered, west-facing bay waters — making for a surprisingly diverse underwater landscape even within a relatively compact area.
EcoTreasures has been running tours at this location for more than 15 years. The operator holds Advanced Ecotourism Certification from Ecotourism Australia and is described as the only Manly snorkel tour operator with this accreditation. The business was founded by a Northern Beaches local with a background in environmental studies, and the team’s focus is on blending conservation with genuine guest enjoyment.
The nature walk component takes in the Shelly Beach headland, offering sweeping views along the Northern Beaches coastline — not a bad way to round out a morning. Closed-toe shoes are recommended for the walk, and participants should bring their own swimwear, sunscreen, hat, and towel. The tour is suitable for beginners and more experienced snorkellers, though all participants do need to be able to swim 150 metres unassisted and tread water independently. It is not recommended for pregnant travellers, non-swimmers, or those with significant cardiovascular health concerns.
Tours depart from 5 Marine Parade, Manly, and public transport options are available nearby. Upcoming dates include Tuesday 8 September, Thursday 10 September, and Saturday 19 September, with sessions continuing regularly through to late January 2027. Tickets are available through Fever, with smartphone ticketing and instant access provided on booking.
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