Dive site rankings
Lists computed live from the directory's data: deepest, most remote, clearest, the top ten in every state and the best dives within weekend range of each capital.
Top 10 by state
State top tenWith guide
The Top 10 Dive Sites in New South Wales
Temperate reefs, grey nurse sharks and Australia's densest cluster of city shore…
State top tenWith guide
The Top 10 Dive Sites in Queensland
The Great Barrier Reef, the SS Yongala and warm water twelve months a…
State top tenWith guide
The Top 10 Dive Sites in Victoria
Pier macro life, Port Phillip Heads walls and the biggest concentration of wrecks in the…
State top tenWith guide
The Top 10 Dive Sites in Western Australia
Ningaloo, Rottnest, the Rowley Shoals and 12,000 km of coast with almost no one on…
State top ten
The Top 10 Dive Sites in South Australia
Leafy seadragons, giant cuttlefish, the Mount Gambier sinkholes and great white cage…
State top ten
The Top 10 Dive Sites in Tasmania
Giant kelp, sea caves, the deepest sea cliffs in the southern hemisphere and water as clear as it is…
State top ten
The Top 10 Dive Sites in the Northern Territory
WWII wrecks in Darwin Harbour, dived on neap tides in the dry…
State top ten
The Top 10 Dive Sites in Australia's External Territories
Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling), Norfolk Island and the Coral Sea: Australia's remote oceanic…
Near each city
Weekend range
The Best Dive Sites Within Two Hours of Sydney
Sydney has more dive sites within a two-hour drive than any other capital in the world, and most of them are shore dives. This list ranks the sites…
Weekend range
The Best Dive Sites Within Two Hours of Melbourne
Everything within about 120 km of Melbourne: the bayside reefs, the Mornington Peninsula piers, Port Phillip Heads, the Bellarine and Western Port.…
Weekend range
The Best Dive Sites Within Two Hours of Brisbane
Within about 130 km of Brisbane are Moreton Bay's wrecks and reefs, Flinders Reef, North Stradbroke's manta and leopard shark sites, the Gold Coast…
Weekend range
The Best Dive Sites Within Two Hours of Perth
Perth's metropolitan limestone reefs, the Rockingham and Coogee wreck trails, the Swan River, and Rottnest Island are all within about 110 km. Autumn…
Weekend range
The Best Dive Sites Within Two Hours of Adelaide
Adelaide sits between two of the best jetty-diving coasts in the world. Within about 120 km: the metro wrecks and reefs, the Fleurieu's leafy…
Weekend range
The Best Dive Sites Within Two Hours of Hobart
Hobart's diving is the Derwent, Tinderbox, Bruny Island, the D'Entrecasteaux Channel and, 90 minutes away, the Tasman Peninsula's sea caves and…
Weekend range
The Best Dive Sites Within Two Hours of Cairns
Cairns is the busiest dive hub in Australia. Within about 120 km (which on the reef means a 60–90 minute boat ride) are the outer-reef day-boat…
By the numbers
By maximum depthWith guide
The 25 Deepest Dive Sites in Australia
Depth is the number every diver asks first, and in Australia it runs from a 124 m sinkhole under a South Australian paddock to the 200 m dumping…
Expedition onlyWith guide
Australia's Most Remote Dive Sites
These are the sites few divers ever reach: Coral Sea seamounts, the Rowley Shoals, the far northern Great Barrier Reef, the Kimberley coast, Bass…
Worth the trip
The Longest Boat Rides to a Day Dive
Some of Australia's best diving is at the end of a long ride: the Yongala from Townsville, the outer Great Barrier Reef from Cairns, the Abrolhos…
Tropical
The Warmest Dive Sites in Australia
Ranked by recorded summer water temperature: the Top End, the Kimberley, the far northern reef and the Indian Ocean territories, where 30 °C water is…
Drysuit territory
The Coldest Dive Sites in Australia
Ranked by recorded winter water temperature: Tasmania, Victoria, the South Australian sinkholes and the Southern Ocean coast, where 11–13 °C is the…
By visibilityWith guide
Australia's Clearest-Water Dive Sites
Ranked by the upper end of the recorded visibility range: the Coral Sea, the Rowley Shoals, the offshore territories, the Mount Gambier sinkholes…
By recorded marine lifeWith guide
The Most Biodiverse Dive Sites in Australia
Ranked by how many distinct species or groups are recorded for each site in this directory. It rewards the thoroughly surveyed sites, the Nelson Bay…
Colonial era and beforeWith guide
The Oldest Shipwrecks You Can Dive in Australia
From the 1629 Batavia on the Abrolhos to the clipper ships and coastal steamers of the 1800s, these are the oldest wrecks divers can visit. All are…
1939–1945With guide
WWII and Wartime Wrecks You Can Dive in Australia
The Japanese air raids on Darwin left the harbour's war graves; Sydney Harbour has the remains of the 1942 midget submarine attack; flying boats lie…
The artificial-reef fleetWith guide
Every Scuttled Warship You Can Dive in Australia
Since the HMAS Swan went down in Geographe Bay in 1997, Australia has scuttled a fleet of decommissioned naval vessels as dive sites: the Perth,…
By what you want
Well documented, rarely divedWith guide
20 Under-the-Radar Dive Sites Worth the Drive
Sites that are properly documented, with depths, entries and conditions confirmed by several sources, but that see only occasional charters or club…
Everyone in the water
The Best Dive Sites for Families and Snorkelling Companions
Sites where a certified diver, a snorkeller and a nervous first-timer can all get in at the same beach: shallow, sheltered, easy entry, plenty to see…
Small subjects, big lenses
The Best Macro Photography Dive Sites in Australia
Ranked for photographers who shoot small: sites recording seadragons, seahorses, pygmy pipehorses, nudibranchs, frogfish and cephalopods, weighted…
Big scenes
The Best Wide-Angle Photography Dive Sites in Australia
For the wide lens: clear water, big animals and structure. Wrecks, walls and pinnacles with 20 m-plus visibility and sharks, rays, seals or schooling…