Adventure Bay Charters

Adventure Bay Charters operates from Port Lincoln running great white shark cage experiences and sea lion swims, and it is important to classify this correctly: it is wildlife tourism rather than a scuba dive centre.

The Neptune Islands are the only location in Australia where great white cage operations run, and they exist because of the large New Zealand fur seal colony there. The standard experience is a surface cage using surface-supplied air or snorkelling gear, and no diving certification is required.

That accessibility is the point. Cage diving at the Neptunes is something a non-diver can do, and treating it as a scuba activity misrepresents both what it involves and who it is for.

The sea lion swims deserve at least equal billing and frequently get less. Australian sea lions are endemic and endangered, and encounters with juveniles are genuinely interactive — they approach, mirror movements, blow bubbles and loop back repeatedly. Many visitors who came for the sharks describe the sea lions as the better experience.

The trip to the Neptunes is a long open-ocean run from Port Lincoln, which is worth factoring in for anyone prone to seasickness, and conditions determine whether it goes at all.

The Neptune Islands trip is a long open-ocean run and conditions determine whether it happens at all. Anyone travelling specifically for cage diving should allow more than a single date, and should be realistic about seasickness on the crossing.