Guide · Sharks & rays

Shark and ray encounters in Port Stephens, step by step

Shark and ray encounters in Port Stephens mean wading into a lagoon at Anna Bay while rays glide past your ankles. Here is what the pass includes, who may go in the water, and how it compares with the other animal park near Nelson Bay.

Check availabilityfrom $33 · cancel for free

Editorial team, dolphincruiseportstephens.comUpdated October 24, 2026Reading time 6 min15 sources

This guide's tour Anna Bay: Irukandji Entry Pass with Shallows Encounter 4.4 (218 reviews) 2 hours from$29per person Check availabilityFree to cancel until 24 hrs before the start

Quick answer

01Where: 2 Jessie Rd, Anna Bay, open 9am to 5pm every day.¹
02What the pass gives: The aquarium, the lagoon shallows and keeper talks.²
03In the water: Wading only on the shallows pass; no swimming.
04Price: From $29 for 2 hours, rated 4.35.
05Rain: Partly undercover, with one lagoon fully indoors.³

A lagoon full of sharks and rays

Most people meet a shark through glass, if at all. At Anna Bay you meet them with your feet in the water. Irukandji Shark & Ray Encounters, on the corner of Nelson Bay Road and Jessie Road, is a centre built around shallow lagoons where sharks, rays and fish swim close enough to touch, with free parking on site.⁴ It opens from 9am to 5pm every day.¹

Every guest needs an entry pass, which covers the aquarium and the lagoon shallows, feeding and interacting with sharks and rays, and keeper talks.⁵ ² Upgrades take you further: into the water with sharks, rays and fish, feeding them by hand.⁵ Keepers are always present beside the animals.

It is a good counterweight to a dolphin cruise. On the bay you watch wild animals from a distance set by law; here you are close, guided and certain to see something. It is easy to do both in one day, since Anna Bay is only a short drive from the marina at Nelson Bay.

Your visit

A morning at the lagoons, step by step

Arrive

Check in at reception

Staff show you the way.
Get ready

Clothes over swimwear

Shoes off; reef-friendly sunscreen only.
In the shallows

Wade among the rays

Feed and touch sharks and rays.²
Listen

Keeper talks

Included in every entry pass.²
Optional

Snorkel upgrade

Swim with rays, sharks and turtles.⁶

The shallows pass, booked online

On GetYourGuide the entry pass with a shallows encounter starts from $29, lasts 2 hours, and is rated 4.35 from 218 reviews, with guests scoring the guide 4.6. It is listed as wheelchair accessible, and you check in at reception before staff show you the way. Free cancellation runs until 24 hours before.

The rules of the shallows are simple and strict. You wade, you do not swim; the lagoon is entered barefoot; clothes go on top of swimwear; and only reef-friendly sunscreen is allowed. The listing says sessions run all day from 9 AM to 5 PM, and that arriving by 3:30 PM gives you the full experience.

Bring a towel and something dry to change into, because even wading leaves you wet to the knees, and a waterproof phone pouch if you want pictures. The first time a ray brushes past your leg is a surprise for everyone, adults included, so go in slowly and let the animals come to you. Keep the visit unhurried: the rays circle the lagoon again and again, so standing still for a few minutes usually brings them to you without any chasing.

Length

Hours for each pass

hrs

Durations as each GetYourGuide listing states them.

Side by side

Shark and ray passes compared

Pass	Length	Rating	From
Shallows pass	2 hrs	4.35	from $29
Zebra shark encounter	2 hrs	4.43	from $75
Reef shark encounter	2 hrs	4.76	from $92
Reef shark snorkel	3 hrs	4.86	from $85
Sharks, rays & reptiles	All day	New	from $32

Length and score come straight from each GetYourGuide listing; the price is its starting fare, and the zebra and reef shark encounters are listed as private groups, so check what that price covers.

Three ways in

Wade, snorkel or see it all?

Most reviewed

Shallows pass

Anna Bay lagoons

Duration: 2 hrs
Rating: 4.35
Reviews: 218
Price: from $29

See this pass

Top rated

Reef shark snorkel

Up to 10 people

Duration: 3 hrs
Rating: 4.86
Reviews: 21
Price: from $85

See this pass

Port Stephens: Shark, Ray and Reptile Experience Ticket

Fully indoors

Sharks, rays & reptiles

Off Nelson Bay Road

Valid: Selected date
Hours: 9am to 5pm
Reviews: None yet
Price: from $32

See this pass

Decision helper

Which shark and ray visit suits you?

Find the line that sounds like your group

Shallows pass

Wading only, with an adult beside them.

Reef shark snorkel

A 3-hour snorkel for up to 10 people.

Sharks, rays & reptiles

It adds snakes, lizards and crocodiles.

Either centre

Both are fully or partly under cover.³

Shallows pass

Listed as wheelchair accessible.

The Greynurse Shark was the first shark to be protected in the world when the New South Wales Government declared it a protected species in 1984.

Fishes of Australia (Museums Victoria)Source 7

Upgrades: snorkel and shark encounters

If wading is not enough, the upgrades put you in deeper. The snorkel upgrade lets you swim alongside rays, sharks and turtles in the lagoons, with limited places each day, so the centre advises booking early.⁶ The reef shark snorkel on GetYourGuide takes at most 10 people, lasts 3 hours, and starts from $85, rated 4.86 from 21 reviews.

Private encounters focus on one species. The zebra shark encounter lasts 2 hours from $75 and is rated 4.43 from 12 reviews. For children under 12 an adult must be in the water too, and that adult needs an encounter ticket as well; arrive 20 minutes early. The reef shark encounter, with tawny nurse sharks, provides socks, wetsuits, shark food and feeding sticks, and asks you not to bring your own wetsuit.

Upgrades cost more than the shallows pass, so decide what matters. For a first visit with young children, the shallows are plenty. For confident teenagers and adults who want to float face-down above a gliding ray, the snorkel is the one to book. Whichever you choose, book the upgrade together with the entry pass rather than on the day, so you are not left on the shore watching others swim.

Checklist

Before you wade in

Bring

Swimwear with clothes on top
Reef-friendly sunscreen only
A towel and dry clothes

Know

Arrive by 3:30 PM for the full visit
Under-12s need an adult in the water
Shoes come off at the lagoon

Cost calculator

What a shark and ray visit costs your group

Starting totals for each pass by group size.

Shallows pass2 hoursfrom $29 Reef shark snorkel3 hoursfrom $85 Sharks, rays & reptilesAll dayfrom $32

People 2

Total from$58

per traveler from $29

Check availabilityfree cancellation

Each total multiplies the lowest per-person starting price on GetYourGuide by the size of your group and converts it at the European Central Bank's daily rate; your date and option set the final amount.

Video

The Shark and Ray Rescue Centre in Port Stephens

The YouTube player stays switched off here until you press play.

Age rules and families

The centre sets clear age limits. Young people aged 16 and over may enter without an adult, while anyone under 16 must be with a supervising adult at all times; from the age of 12, a young person may go into the water without an adult in the water beside them.⁸ On the shallows pass, children under 12 need an adult with them in the water at all times.

That makes the shallows a family activity in the true sense: an adult wades with the younger ones, which is half the fun. Keepers talk throughout, and the talks are included in the entry pass, so children learn which animal is which while they are standing among them.²

Weather is rarely a problem. The centre is partially undercover and suitable for wet weather: its Tropical Lagoon is entirely indoors and the Temperate Lagoon is partially sheltered.³ On a day when the bay is too rough for a cruise, that makes it a natural back-up plan.

The other shark and ray centre in Port Stephens

A second shark and ray centre in Port Stephens sits off Nelson Bay Road at the go-kart track, about a kilometre down Marsh Road: Port Stephens Animal Adventures. It is fully indoors and open daily from 9am to 5pm except Christmas Day, with no set schedule. Its shark, ray and reptile ticket starts from $32.

The listing describes a touch pool with close to 150 sharks and rays, naming Port Jackson and epaulette sharks and fiddler, eagle and shovelnose rays, plus snakes, lizards and crocodile pools that include a 4.8 metre, 800 kilogram saltwater crocodile. A bigger pass adds a shark feeding session with four tawny nurse sharks and a zebra shark, from $49.

Neither of these tickets has reviews on GetYourGuide yet, so you are trusting the listing rather than other travellers. If reptiles and crocodiles appeal as much as rays, it is a strong second choice; if you want the wading lagoons, Anna Bay is the place. The two centres are close enough to visit both in a single day if your group cannot agree, and both are good options for an afternoon after a morning cruise.

Wild sharks off the coast

The lagoons are not the only sharks in the area. The waters around Seal Rocks, in a sanctuary zone of the Port Stephens - Great Lakes Marine Park, are a key gathering site for the grey nurse shark.⁹ They have been filmed at Looking Glass Cave on Broughton Island, near Port Stephens, an island reached only by boat.¹⁰ ¹¹

Grey nurse sharks look fierce, with their ragged teeth on show. Females mature at 9 or 10 years and grow to about 3.2 m, and they usually give birth to only two pups once every two years.¹² ¹³ The east coast population is listed as critically endangered under national law.¹⁴

There is hopeful news. The grey nurse was the first shark in the world to be protected, by New South Wales in 1984, and a 2025 report estimated 1,423 adults in the east coast population in 2023, rising about 5% a year.⁷ ¹⁵ Seeing their smaller cousins up close at Anna Bay is a good way to understand why they are worth that protection.

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