Ranked for photographers who shoot small: sites recording seadragons, seahorses, pygmy pipehorses, nudibranchs, frogfish and cephalopods, weighted toward the sheltered piers and shore reefs where you can spend an hour on one pylon.
Updated daily from the directory. 9 sites listed.
1. Darwin Harbour · NT
The Pinnacle
A ridge rising from 15 m to 5 m, with big fish at the base and clouds of small fish on the top.
2. Darwin Harbour · NT
John Holland Barge
An upturned construction barge whose cylinders and beams form a maze of overhangs full of fish.
3. Darwin Harbour · NT
East Point Reef
A convenient shallow macro site off East Point Reserve, full of sponges, sea whips and small fish.
4. Darwin Harbour · NT
Kelat
A relaxed 12 m dive on the remains of an 1881 iron sailing ship turned naval coal hulk, sunk after the 1942 raid.
5. Darwin Harbour · NT
Weed Reef Bommies
Large bommies with an overhang packed with colourful sponge and soft coral life; sargassum at its best around August.
6. Darwin Offshore & Artificial Reefs · NT
Bottlewasher Artificial Reef
An old Coca-Cola bottle-washing machine surrounded by 1,500 tonnes of concrete culverts – a shallow, fishy and unmistakably Darwin reef.
7. East Arnhem Land & Gove · NT
Gove Town Wharf
Pylons crowded with nudibranchs, flatworms, decorator crabs and feather stars, with big schools of fish under the wharf – Gove's easy macro dive.
8. Darwin Offshore & Artificial Reefs · NT
Vernon Islands
Coral reefs rising steeply from fast tidal channels in Clarence Strait, with Spanish mackerel feeding along the edges – the best natural reef within reach of Darwin.
9. Darwin Offshore & Artificial Reefs · NT
Vernon Islands Blue Holes
Tidal blue holes that become sheltered, fish-filled coral pools at low tide – with a 'horizontal waterfall' as the water drains out.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the best macro diving in Australia?
The piers of the Mornington Peninsula (Blairgowrie, Rye, Portsea, Flinders), the Yorke Peninsula jetties (Edithburgh), Nelson Bay's Fly Point and the Pipeline, and Sydney's Kurnell, Bare Island and Clifton Gardens.
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