Sites you can reach from the beach, rocks or a jetty without a charter. Always check the local swell, tide and entry notes on each site page, and dive with a buddy.
898 sites · the first 48 shown as cards, the rest listed by state below
Shoalhaven Coast · NSW
Quiet, sheltered snorkelling coves along scenic walks, including the route to the SS Merimbula wreck.
Christmas Island · External Territory
A sheer, effectively bottomless wall reached from the beach, with trevally, reef sharks and seasonal whale sharks.
Newcastle & Lake Macquarie · NSW
The bow of a 90 m French four-masted barque, lost in 1904, still standing out of the Stockton breakwall.
Bruny Island & D'Entrecasteaux Channel · TAS
Historic bay (Cook, Bligh) with sheltered shore dives and boat access to Fluted Cape, Penguin Island and Cape Connella.
Wollongong & Kiama · NSW
Kelp-covered reef and wall below the Kiama Blowhole with good schools and sea dragons, and a safe ramp exit.
Margaret River & Augusta · WA
An 1863 wooden barque with its cargo of timber sleepers still stacked in the hull, 100 m off the beach in 5 m.
Albany & Great Southern · WA
A 1936 tug boiler breaking the surface 50 m off a sheltered beach – Albany's easiest wreck snorkel.
Perth · WA
A WWII landing craft and a sunken junk-style pleasure boat that together are the Swan River's most reliable seahorse…
Townsville & Magnetic Island · QLD
Easy beach entry to granite-boulder canyons, swim-throughs and coral gardens with 50+ nudibranch species, turtles and…
Melbourne & Port Phillip Bay · VIC
Free-parking western-suburbs training pier with a small artificial reef off its end; flat, easy and sheltered from…
Groote Eylandt · NT
An easy, shallow wharf dive at Alyangula where resident dolphins are often seen.
Kangaroo Island · SA
A sheltered tidal channel muck dive for seahorses and pipefish at the entrance to Pelican Lagoon.
North Stradbroke Island · QLD
Island's sheltered shore drift: a low wall with car bodies, tyres and the scuttled launch Bandicoot, plus wobbegongs…
Perth's classic easy shore and night dive: century-old pylons encrusted with sponges and corals that hold excellent…
Geelong & Bellarine · VIC
Calm, sheltered seagrass shallows at the Batman landing site with seahorses and nudibranchs; a picnic-reserve dive with…
Yamba & Iluka · NSW
A rugged basalt reef of trenches, canyons and swim-throughs beneath one of Australia's most famous surf points,…
Norfolk Island · External Territory
A spectacular cliff-framed beach with a shallow coral wall – but with dangerous undercurrents.
Yorke Peninsula · SA
The quickest Yorke Peninsula jetty dive from Adelaide – shallow, easy and full of crabs, pike and rays under the piles.
Whyalla & Upper Spencer Gulf · SA
A quiet country jetty on a coast of easy 2-4 m snorkelling reefs, with eagle rays and Port Jackson sharks on the…
Frames and planking of an 1849 French whaling brigantine, one of the south coast's earliest wrecks.
Pretty bay with coral-covered boulders, small caverns and swim-throughs, and reliable turtles on the northern side.
Sydney South & Botany Bay · NSW
A sheltered shallow drift beside the Bare Island bridge with seahorses, pineapplefish and blue-ringed octopus – the…
Surprisingly substantial timber remains of an 1869 barque and coal hulk, including stem, breast hook and windlass.
Kelp-to-sponge-garden reef with friendly blue groper beside one of the Illawarra's prettiest beaches.
Sydney Northern Beaches · NSW
A shallow, sheltered-corner boulder reef beside the Avalon rock pool – the upper Northern Beaches' easiest local shore…
Ningaloo – Coral Bay · WA
A 5 m-tall coral bommie that survived the 2022 coral die-off in Bill's Bay.
A granite bommie with seadragons, groper and colourful sponges, reached from the beach – good at night.
South West Rocks · NSW
A small but exceptionally macro-rich reef off Trial Bay Gaol, prized locally for photography, night dives and its…
A sheltered, little-documented headland reef in Nepean Bay near Kingscote.
Ballina & Evans Head · NSW
An easy, boat-free tidal shore dive and sheltered lagoon dive right in East Ballina — the default option with no local…
The rockier, ocean-facing outer section of Ballina's North Wall, a step up in both marine life and difficulty from the…
Sydney Harbour · NSW
Dozens of White's seahorses on the net of a Middle Harbour swimming enclosure in under 5 m – Sydney's easiest and most…
Mornington Peninsula · VIC
Sheltered, shallow reef patches ideal for a first Western Port dive or snorkel; quiet beach with facilities.
Quietest entry in the sanctuary; very shallow close-in reef for snorkelling, children and relaxed night dives.
Ulladulla · NSW
Summer-friendly shore dive sheltered from north-easterlies, close to Mollymook.
Merimbula · NSW
Sheltered beach for snorkelling and first dives beside the Merimbula Wharf headland.
Sydney's premier shore dive and macro site – Indianfish, pygmy pipehorses, seahorses and anglerfish on sponge reef…
A low sponge ridge at 14–16 m that is Bare Island's best pygmy pipehorse and nudibranch hunting ground, with Sea Horse…
Giant snapper and schooling kingfish under the overhangs of a lonely bommie 250 m south of Bare Island – a navigation…
Bare Island's deepest and most colourful route – a 3 m+ wall at 15–19 m linking the Big Rock, cable gully, 15 Metre…
Two sponge-smothered reefs alone on the sand at 15–19 m, with kingfish, giant flathead, seahorses and anglerfish – Bare…
The easiest Bare Island route – a 6–12 m reef edge with a canyon and cave, seadragons and pygmy pipehorses, ideal for…
The intermediate step between Bare Island Right and the Deep Wall – a boulder wall at 14–16 m leading to Sea Horse…
Batemans Bay · NSW
Easy gutters with resident wobbegongs and an underwater spit to the island.
Bundaberg & Agnes Water · QLD
Queensland's best-known shore dive: a sheltered, shallow soft-coral reef with prolific nudibranchs, turtles and sea…
The sheltered river side of the Bluff, leading to a kelp-fringed bay between the reef pincers at Point Flinders with…
Sandstone pincer reef with kelp forests, small arches and sponge gardens on the ocean face of the Bluff; the best of…
The Bellarine's main ocean shore dive: kelp forests, sandstone arches and sponge gardens around a marine-sanctuary…
Other ways to find a dive