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 fish recorded.
Updated daily from the directory. 12 sites listed.
1. Tasman Peninsula · TAS
Cathedral Cave
A huge sea cave system at Waterfall Bay, with chambers you can surface in and walls of colour outside.
2. Tasman Peninsula · TAS
Waterfall Bay Wall
The dolerite wall beneath 100 m cliffs, with kelp, sponge gardens and seals passing through.
3. Tasman Peninsula · TAS
Sisters Rocks
Vertical walls that bloom with sponges, sea whips and anemones below 30 m; regarded as one of Australia's best temperate wall dives.
4. Tasman Peninsula · TAS
Deep Glen Bay North Wall
Colourful sponge and sea-whip wall that is the fallback when the Sisters are blown out, with seals and seadragons.
5. Tasman Peninsula · TAS
Fortescue Bay
Easy shore access to one of the last giant kelp forests on the Tasman Peninsula, with camping on the beach.
6. Tasman Peninsula · TAS
Hippolyte Rocks
Remote seal-colony islets with bull kelp shallows, sponge reefs from 30 m and huge fish schools.
7. Tasmania East Coast · TAS
Golden Bommies
Twin 10 m bommies smothered in yellow zoanthids and sea whips rising from sand at 39 m; huge schools of butterfly perch and morwong in a no-take reserve.
8. Tasmania North & North-West · TAS
Rocky Cape Outer Reef
Rated 9/10: a twin-peaked outcrop stepping to 25 m with current-fed gorgonians and sea pens in often 25 m visibility.
9. Tasmania North & North-West · TAS
Simmos Reef (Shag Rock)
A figure-6 bommie from 25 m to 4 m with sea pens, dumpling squid and 25 m visibility.
10. Tasman Peninsula · TAS
SS Nord
Intact 88 m steamer upright at 42 m, cloaked in colour and fish; rated among Australia's best wreck dives.
11. Tasmania East Coast · TAS
The Hairy Wall
A long granite drop-off bristling with sea whips, often with the clearest water in the reserve.
12. Tasmania East Coast · TAS
The Canyon (Bicheno)
A 37 m granite canyon with sea whips and schooling butterfly perch.
Frequently asked questions
What makes a good wide-angle site?
Visibility above 20 m, something large to frame (a wreck, a wall, a shark) and light: shallow tropical reefs at midday or temperate sites on a winter high-pressure day.
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