Australia's Clearest-Water Dive Sites in South Australia

1. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

Kilsby Sinkhole

Visibility: 40-80 m · The open-access showpiece of the Mount Gambier sinkholes: 65 m deep, clear as air, recreational depth on the upper platforms.

Our takeFifty-plus metres of visibility in a private sinkhole on a sheep property near Mount Gambier, open to Open Water divers with an approved operator. At midday in summer a shaft of light falls 30 m to the rubble slope; there is nothing else like it in Australia at a recreational level.

2. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

Ewens Ponds

Visibility: 30-80 m · Three spring-fed limestone ponds joined by a creek, with 60 m visibility and no permit needed.

Our takeThree spring-fed ponds joined by shallow channels, drifted one way in 10 m over meadows of aquatic plants. The water is so clear that divers report vertigo on the descent. Open Water, guided, and the best introduction to the Limestone Coast.

3. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

Piccaninnie Ponds

Visibility: 30-60 m · The approach to Australia's most famous sinkhole: weed meadows in near-perfect visibility leading to the lip of a 100 m+ chasm.

Our takeThe approach to the Chasm through weed meadows in near-perfect visibility, and the Cathedral chamber beside it. Permit-only, timed entries, and the most photographed freshwater dive in the country.

4. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

Piccaninnie Ponds – The Cathedral

Visibility: 40-60 m · A white limestone chamber lit by daylight in near-perfect visibility – one of Australia's finest freshwater photography dives.

5. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

Piccaninnie Ponds – The Chasm

Visibility: 40-60 m · Hanging over a 100 m+ spring-fed slot in 40 m-plus visibility – the signature Mount Gambier image.

6. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

The Shaft

Visibility: 30-50 m · A 124 m deep sinkhole entered through a hole in a paddock. Advanced cave rating only.

7. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

Tank Cave

Visibility: 15-40 m · More than 7 km of shallow, lined maze passage – Australia's premier Advanced Cave training and exploration site.

8. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

Goulden's Hole

Visibility: 15-30 m · The classic CDAA training sinkhole – compact, clear below a 15 m thermocline and easy to plan around.

9. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

The Pines

Visibility: 15-30 m · A tight entrance opening into a large, clear chamber, with a signed deep Advanced Cave section below 25 m.

10. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

Baker's Cave

Visibility: 10-30 m · A 15 m wire ladder down a 1 m solution tube into a large flooded chamber and tunnel to 33 m.

11. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

Three Sisters Cave

Visibility: 10-30 m · An 18 m belayed ladder descent into a 30 m dome chamber, with the infamous 30-40 cm 'flattener' beyond – sidemount only.

12. Yorke Peninsula · SA

Wedge Island

Visibility: 15-30 m · Remote island with 150 m cliffs, walls and drifts to 50 m and Shark Cove's undercut ledge and tunnel through North Point.

13. Eyre Peninsula · SA

Neptune Islands – Great White Shark Cage Diving

Visibility: 5-25 m · The only great white cage diving in Australia, from Port Lincoln.

14. Yorke Peninsula · SA

Althorpe Island

Visibility: 12-25 m · Remote island with 50+ sites, 20 m walls, seal colonies, big blue groper and historic wrecks at the mouth of Spencer Gulf.

15. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

Mud Hole

Visibility: 10-25 (first diver); near zero after m · Crystal-clear shaded water for the first diver – and a textbook silt-out for everyone after.

16. Kangaroo Island · SA

The Pages

Visibility: 15-25 m · Pristine walls and big fish schools around sea lion islets in the middle of Backstairs Passage.

17. Whyalla & Upper Spencer Gulf · SA

Stony Point – Giant Cuttlefish Aggregation

Visibility: 5-20 m · The world's only mass aggregation of giant Australian cuttlefish – tens to hundreds of thousands of displaying, mating animals in 1-6 m within metres of an easy boardwalk entry, May to August.

18. Eyre Peninsula · SA

Hopkins Island – Australian Sea Lions

Visibility: 10-20 m · Playful, endangered Australian sea lions spinning around snorkellers in a clear, shallow cove, plus a 30 m-to-4 m pinnacle for divers.

19. Whyalla & Upper Spencer Gulf · SA

Point Lowly

Visibility: 5-20 m · Eastern end of the cuttlefish aggregation with deeper ledges and fewer crowds, below the 1883 Point Lowly lighthouse.

20. Fleurieu Peninsula & Victor Harbor · SA

Aldinga Drop-off

Visibility: 6-20 m · A 10 m limestone cliff riddled with caverns and overhangs in a no-take sanctuary zone – one of the most spectacular dives near Adelaide.

21. Fleurieu Peninsula & Victor Harbor · SA

Aldinga Pinnacles

Visibility: 6-20 m · Ten limestone pinnacles with swim-throughs and overhangs, dense relaxed fish and good visibility in a no-take zone.

22. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

Engelbrecht Cave – East

Visibility: 5-20 m · Cave diving beneath the middle of Mount Gambier – a shallow, silty 70 m passage to a hidden air chamber and lake.

23. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

Fossil Cave

Visibility: 5-20 m · A cave with a fossil record of thylacines, marsupial lions and giant kangaroos, connected to the Tank Cave system.

24. Yorke Peninsula · SA

Haystack Reef

Visibility: 10-20 m · A kilometre-long wall from 22 m to 10 m, riddled with caves and swim-throughs and carpeted in red, yellow and orange sponges – about ten dives' worth of reef.

25. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

Little Blue Lake

Visibility: 2-5 surface; 10-20 below 20 m · The easiest-access deep sinkhole in Mount Gambier – roadside parking, stairs and pontoon, and a flat floor at 36 m for depth and skills work.

26. Kangaroo Island · SA

Western River Cove

Visibility: 8-20 m · Kangaroo Island's classic shore dive – colourful reef fish in the shallows and gorgonians and blue groper on the deeper western side.

27. Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA

Allendale East Cave

Visibility: 5-20 m · A steep, silty township cave with a big chamber at 24 m – a true test of buoyancy and line skills for newly rated Cave divers.

28. Yorke Peninsula · SA

Chinamans Hat Island

Visibility: 10-20 m · A small island ringed by reef riddled with swim-throughs, chimneys and caves, a short boat ride from Marion Bay.

29. Kangaroo Island · SA

Fides Wreck

Visibility: 10-20 m · Brass fittings, bottles and cargo from an 1860 barque scattered in a gully beneath the north-west cliffs.

30. Yorke Peninsula · SA

Haystack Island

Visibility: 10-20 m · Towering, bird-covered island with seal-visited ledges and big blue groper – usually dived with the famous Haystack Reef wall nearby.