The Best Dive Sites on the Great Barrier Reef
Coral health, fish life, and reputation among divers who have dived the whole reef.
The Great Barrier Reef has more than 2,900 individual reefs and hundreds of named dive sites, from the day-boat moorings off Cairns to the Ribbon Reefs and the southern coral cays. These are the ones divers travel for, grouped from north to south. The Coral Sea reefs beyond the shelf (Osprey, Bougainville, Flinders) are covered in the big-animal and Coral Sea lists.
1. Ribbon Reefs & Lizard Island · QLD
Cod Hole
Ribbon Reef 10's potato cod site, the reef's most famous dive since the 1970s.
2. Ribbon Reefs & Lizard Island · QLD
Steve's Bommie
A single pinnacle from 30 m to 3 m, covered in fish. Many call it the best single dive on the reef.
3. Ribbon Reefs & Lizard Island · QLD
Pixie Pinnacle
A smaller pinnacle near Ribbon Reef 10, thick with anthias, lionfish and nudibranchs.
4. Ribbon Reefs & Lizard Island · QLD
Lighthouse Bommie
The Ribbon Reefs' dwarf minke whale site in June and July.
5. Ribbon Reefs & Lizard Island · QLD
Challenger Bay
Ribbon Reef 10's night dive, with giant trevally hunting in the torch beams.
6. Port Douglas · QLD
Castle Rock (Agincourt Reef 1)
Port Douglas's signature Agincourt site with swim-throughs and pelagics.
7. Port Douglas · QLD
Nursery Bommie (Agincourt Reef)
A coral tower on Agincourt Reef with schooling barracuda and reef sharks.
8. Cairns · QLD
Three Sisters (Milln Reef)
Three coral pinnacles off Cairns, the best of the day-boat sites.
10. Townsville & Magnetic Island · QLD
SS Yongala
Not a reef, but the greatest dive on the reef coast.
11. Whitsundays & Bowen · QLD
Stepping Stones (Bait Reef)
The Whitsundays' best: a line of coral pinnacles on the outer barrier.
12. Heron Island & Capricorn Group · QLD
Heron Bommie
Heron Island's turtle, ray and shark aggregation site.
13. Lady Musgrave & Bunker Group · QLD
Manta Bommies (Lady Musgrave)
Lady Musgrave's manta cleaning stations.
14. Lady Elliot Island · QLD
Lighthouse Bommies (Lady Elliot Island)
The southern reef's manta capital.
15. Lady Elliot Island · QLD
The Blowhole (Lady Elliot Island)
A cave that opens onto the outer reef slope at Lady Elliot.