Solo & Independent Shore Diving in Australia: Rules, Norms and How to Do It Safely

Australia is one of the easiest countries in the world in which to dive independently. There is no requirement to dive with an operator, no licence to hold, and most of the best shore dives in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart are done by locals who fill their tanks, check the swell and walk in. More than 700 sites in this directory are marked as independent shore dives. What follows is what you need to know before doing the same.

State by state

Solo diving specifically

No Australian state prohibits a certified diver from diving alone from the shore. It is uncommon in practice: the Australian diving culture is a buddy culture, and no commercial operator in Queensland (by law) or elsewhere (by insurance) will let you dive solo from their boat. Divers who do dive solo are expected to hold a self-reliant or solo certification, carry a fully redundant gas source, and dive well within their limits. Most of the shore-dive fatalities in Australia in any given year involve divers who were alone at the time of the incident, and coroners' findings return to that point repeatedly. This directory marks sites as 'independent shore dive' to mean without an operator, not without a buddy.

Dive flags and boat traffic

Every state requires a boat with divers down to fly the International Code Flag A (blue and white) and, in most states, allows or requires the red-and-white diver-down flag as well. From shore the legal position varies, but towing a float with a flag is near-universal practice at any site near boat traffic, and in Sydney Harbour, Port Stephens, Port Phillip, the Gold Coast Seaway and every harbour entrance it is essential: boats are required to keep clear of a displayed flag and slow to 4 knots within 60 m in most states, but they cannot avoid what they cannot see. Surface close to your exit point, not in the middle of a channel.

Marine parks and sanctuary zones

Diving is permitted in every marine park sanctuary zone in the country; it is fishing and collecting that are banned, which is why the sanctuary zones (Cabbage Tree Bay, Bass Point, Ricketts Point, Tinderbox, Port Noarlunga, Julian Rocks) have the biggest fish. Do not carry a catch bag or a knife that looks like a spear in a sanctuary zone. Historic shipwrecks older than 75 years are protected under the Underwater Cultural Heritage Act: look, photograph, do not touch or take. Some wrecks (the Darwin war graves, the Ly-ee-Moon) have specific no-entry or no-anchor zones noted on their pages.

Planning an independent dive on a coast you do not know

Use the site page for the swell and wind directions the site needs, the entry method and the tide requirement, then check the Bureau of Meteorology coastal waters forecast and a swell model (Willyweather, Swellnet or Windy) the night before. Arrive early: the sea breeze in every Australian capital arrives around midday in summer. Look at the water for ten minutes before gearing up and watch for sets. Have a fallback site on the other side of the headland or bay. Tell someone your plan and your latest return time. Carry a surface marker, a whistle, a torch and a cutting tool: fishing line is the most common entanglement hazard at the piers and breakwalls that make up so much of Australian shore diving. And do not dive a site for the first time in marginal conditions; the ocean will still be there next weekend.