Scuba Diving in Australia.The many wonderful scuba diving sites that lie in the crystal clear waters that surround Australia are the primary reason why Australia offers the best diving and snorkelling in the world, bar none! There are so many places to dive, all around the coast, that those who are seriously into scuba diving or snorkelling will never be without an opportunity to indulge their passion regardless of which state in Australia they are visiting. What we’ve attempted to do here is give you a few diving ideas and links to some great scuba diving sites where you’ll be able to find as much scuba diving information as you need to enable you to make decisions about your next scuba diving trip. New South Wales.In New South Wales the thriving scuba diving industry supports the livelihood of many locals. With several marine parks and reserves our precious underwater ‘flora and fauna’ are protected from the pollution that besets so many of the world’s waterways.
Scuba diving conditions are usually moderate, depending on the weather, and visibility under water is generally very good.A fascinating collection of marine species including turtles, lion fish, endangered sharks, moray eels, sea urchins, and rare black coral gardens will be found on the many natural and man made reefs in this area. It is also in New South Wales where you will find one of the best scuba diving sites in the entire world, The Pinnacles. If you have never seen a Grey Nurse shark before, then The Pinnacles is definitely a scuba diving site you shouldn’t miss. This is the only place I know where you can get to swim with over 30 Grey Nurse sharks all at once as well as manta rays, bull rays, kingfish, jewfish, White Pointer sharks, Bronze whalers, and Humpback whales. Sydney alone has over 30 scuba diving destinations with interesting names like The Gap, Gap Caves, Dee Why, Wedding Cake Island, The Apartments, The Overhang, and Royal Shepherd.
Another popular scuba diving site is Fish Rock Cave, only 2 kilometres away from Smoky Cape along the Northern coast of New South Wales. In this site, tourists can dive with schools of clownfish, shells, and humpback whales. Experienced and certified professional scuba divers serve as guides and instructors in this wonderful getaway. Lord Howe Island, which is only a 2 hour flight away from Sydney, is one of the few places on earth where its beaches are undamaged and unspoiled. More than half of the island is covered by natural forests and is pollution-free. Its sandy coastlines offer refuge to marine species found only in Australia. This is a first class diving destination but it also offers accommodation for budget wise travellers. Also visit Jervis Bay, widely known for its quaint houses and villages, just 2 ½ hours from Sydney it is one of the most popular dive destinations. A wide assortment of southern marine species thrive along its coral reefs and coastlines, making it the southern counterpart of The Great Barrier Reef and diving in Jervis Bay is possible any time of the year because of its interestingly unique land formation. Another diving site worth visiting is Julian Rocks Marine Park, just 2.5 kilometres off the coast of Byron Bay in northern New South Wales.
Its unique water temperatures support exotic marine life such as leopard sharks, cuttlefish, strange looking water animals, and dolphins and endangered species such as Nurse Grey sharks as well as schools of deep sea fish thrive in this aquatic haven.With its rich marine life, accommodation to suit every budget and very friendly locals it’s an Australian diving destination that you shouldn’t miss. Visit here for a comprehensive list of wonderful dive sites in New South Wales. Queensland.Queensland is a wonderland for scuba divers.
Where else would you find the anything as spectacular as The Great Barrier Reef? Add to that all the other great dive locations along the coast of “The Sunshine State” and Queensland stands out as the scuba divers heaven. In Brisbane, scuba junkies will find the China Wall, Curtin Wrecks, Manta Ray Bommie, Tangaloona Wrecks, Comboyuro Drop Off, Henderson’s Rock, and Spot X. Each diving spot has its own attraction to boast. China Wall and Spot X are the perfect diving locations for those adventure-seekers who are looking for advanced dives.
If exploring the water of the Pacific Ocean is your thing the assortment of reefs that can be found in the Cairns area proves that this truly is the gateway to Great Barrier Reef’s northernmost edge. North Rockhampton will undoubtedly add to your Queensland diving experience. In this part of Australia, divers will find the Barren and Child Islands, Egg Rock, Great Keppel Island, Man and Wife Rocks, and Outer Rock. As a suggestion, you should try the Egg Rock, a marine national park, which houses some of the most beautiful sea creatures ever to swim the Earth. Some other great diving spots in Queensland are:
Visit here for a comprehensive list of wonderful dive sites in Queensland. People in wetsuits emerging from the cool, clear blue waters is one of the most common sights that you can see while exploring the beautiful beaches of Australia. This is no surprise because the continent is home to the most diverse and the richest waters which make the Australia the perfect destination for amateur and professional divers alike. Victoria.Victoria, in particular, is one place where diving enthusiasts would certainly find something exciting and worthy enough to explore underwater.Found on the southeast corner of Australia, the waters of Victoria are considered one of the best kept secrets of the continent. Victorian waters house the richest underwater treasures that are teeming with marine life from the various fish species to sharks and whales, from dolphins to various reptiles. Many of the more popular diving sites in Victoria offer wonderful enjoyment for beginner and experienced diver alike. The Mornington Peninsula offers an exciting array of diving sites that are never short of challenges or fun. There's Port Phillip Bay, which is home to over 60 century-old shipwrecks and where soft corals and seahorses thrive. Wall diving is the thing in this Bay, starting at about 12 metres and beyond 90 metres deep.
The Portsea Pier is the location for people who wish to learn scuba diving, come here and join up for diving lessons. It is the most popular dive site off shore with sea dragons, nudibranchs, otherwise known as sea slugs, and rays meeting you underwater. Another popular diving site in the Mornington Peninsula is the Rye Pier, which is the home of Victoria's first underwater trail. From the time you go into the water you will be treated to some delightful marine life, with many species of fishes and corals alike. Kelp Beds Reef offers spectacular underwater cliffs, caves, and ledges. It has very shallow sections, which are interestingly covered with kelp, hence its name and colorful reef sponges and hard corals also adorn its walls. The Great Ocean Road houses some of the greatest scuba diving sites in Victoria as well.
Port Campbell, which is the home of the very popular Loch Ard wreck, is in the Great Ocean Road region.Old moorings and old engine blocks and gearboxes can be seen here along with the many species of fish. The Warrnambool, on the other hand, is one of the most frequented sites for people who love off shore scuba diving. The Gippsland coastline, although rugged, is an equally good spot with underwater reefs and rock platforms that cover the 17-kilometre long haven. The rocky escarpments and outcrops of the diving spots here can be a major drawback. You may even find it exciting that you can shift into snorkeling gear whenever the tide is low. With its numerous diving sites, Victoria is one state that any diver visiting Australia should include in his diving itinerary. In Melbourne, divers can choose from over 15 diving locations: 12 lb Reef, Boarfish Reef, Capt’n Nitros, Foggy Reef, Nepean Wall, Spectacular Reef, The Maze, 10m Reef, Anchor Wall, Breakers Reef, Cattle Jetty Drift, Cottages By The Sea, Lonsdale Wall, Rip Drift, The Corner, and Torpedo Reef and Warrnambool should not be forgotten when it comes to outstanding diving sites. This city boasts the Penguin and Middle Islands, Eagle Rock, Helen Rock, Pickering Point, Stingray Bay, The Banks, Thunder Point, and The La Bella Wreck. If you want an accessible diving area, the Penguin and Middle Islands is definitely the place to go just a stone’s throw away from the breakwater, this diving site is famous for sightings of stingrays, moray eels, harmless sharks, and crayfish. Visit here for a comprehensive list of wonderful dive sites in Victoria. Tasmania.
Surely in every diver's dream is an underwater landscape where the waters are so clear that you can see ‘forever’ and where ocean forests and old shipwrecks are inhabited by the most remarkable array of brightly coloured sea creatures. This dream becomes a reality when you dive the crystal clear waters that surround the Tasmanian coastline. Imagine quietly gliding through naturally formed caves, which are inhabited by some very small and some quite large ocean creatures alike. This underwater adventure also presents you with reefs and corals of varying sizes and colour, painting the marine environment with bright shades of red, orange, yellow, and green. This Tasmanian underwater fantasy presents you with the extraordinary chance of viewing a number of world-class marine attractions that you have probably seen only in books and photographs.
Amongst these wonderful attractions are a multitude of unique and diverse ocean creatures to glide with. Whales, dolphins, seahorses, sea dragons, sea snails, sponges, and other invertebrates spark up the seemingly infinite ocean with sharp and varied colours, some might even play and tag along with you as you explore the marine environment below. Adding to the superb oceanic view is the dramatic set-up of giant kelp that reaches up to 30 metres. Scattered along the floor of the ocean, giant kelp forests not only contribute to the extraordinary marine attractions, but also provide shelter and playground for the many ocean species. You can even touch a kelp's leaf and discover for yourself some sea creatures that have been crawling on and off them. In Tasmania, passing through the kelp forests and the underwater caves is an amazing scuba diving experience. Along the caves are tiny passages and tunnels that lead, who knows where?
To complete the beautifully crafted Tasmanian oceanic environment, historic shipwrecks are gathered in some 480 remote and protected sites. Incidents of sinking ships in Tasmanian waters were recorded to have had happened from the 17th century until quite recently and some of these ships' structures are still intact enough that they are hailed as one of Tasmania's premier scuba diving attractions. Indeed, if you’re a serious scuba diver then a visit to the pristine waters that surround Tasmania will enthrall you and is one of those things you simply must do before you die... Visit here for a comprehensive list of wonderful dive sites in Tasmania. The Northern Territory.The northernmost state of Australia, the Northern Territory, is a haven for hundreds or perhaps thousands of wonderful sea creatures. With more than 20 diving destinations, Northern Territory is undeniably a haven for divers as well. Here is where you will find the USAT Meigs, Bus Stop, Dudley Bommies, Dieman, East Point Artificial Reef, Mauna Loa, Pipeline Reef, Catalina Flying Boat, and Song Saigon. The USAT Meigs is a popular diving site not only because of the remarkable sea life that dwells here but also because of its interesting history. The largest schooner in Darwin during its time, the USAT Meigs was sunk in 1942 by the Japanese.
The Mauna Loa may remind you of a volcano in Hawaii, but it is actually a sea vessel that looks like the Meigs. Other sunken sea vessels that became superb diving sites in Northern Territory include USS Peary, Marchart 3, and the John Holland Barge. Visit here for a comprehensive list of wonderful dive sites in The Northern Territory. South Australia.South Australia offers clean, uncrowded and temperate waters for scuba diving, among the most biologically diverse in the world and there are plenty of sites for both experienced divers and beginners to explore. Dive with giant cuttlefish off the coast of Whyalla, Great White sharks near Port Lincoln, and the rare leafy sea dragon off Kangaroo Island and Fleurieu Peninsula.
There are more than 700 shipwrecks along South Australia's coastline, many of which are open to divers. Adelaide's Underwater Heritage Trail on Gulf St Vincent links four of the most historic wrecks: the Grecian, the Zanoni, Star of Greece and Norma, all of which sank between 1841 and 1893. In January 1627 Dutch Explorer Pieter Nuyts recorded the first European sighting of the South Australian coast, a group of 20 islands now called Nuyts Archipelago. Nuyts Archipelago is a scuba divers paradise, a collection of unspoilt islands and reefs on the far west coast of the Eyre Peninsula. The low flat islands extend underwater to shallow rocks covered with diverse and abundant algal communities with seagrasses in sheltered bays.
There are many small caves containing an exciting array of soft corals and gorgonians and the islands are home to a world of marine life including Blue Devilfish, Harlequin Fish, Sweep, Southern Rock Lobster, Abalone, Blue Groper and Bottlenose Dolphins. Coral and sponges are also visible in the crystal clear water. Lacey and Evans islands present the most spectacular dives while St Francis Island Group is best for more adventurous divers. Part of the passage of water between Kangaroo Island and the Yorke Peninsula known as the Investigator Strait, The Troubridge Shoals hug the Yorke Peninsula and have been the official cause of at least 35 wrecks and countless groundings. In 1850 alone seven vessels ran aground in an eight-month period. The reefs surrounding Troubridge Island, part of the Shoals, are home to six of the region's earliest sailing vessels: Dart (1838), Parsee (1838), Sultana (1849), Marion (1851), Charles Carter (1854) and Iron King (1873). Troubridge Shoals are also home for magnificent giant spider crabs that claw their way over reefs covered in sponges. The whole area is a delight for divers and underwater photographers because of the diversity of marine life in the area. The safest and most accessible recommended wreck dives are the Iron King and Marion while Troubridge Island is also an interesting area for divers. As the Troubridge Shoals occasionally present treacherous conditions, they are recommended for experienced divers only. The scuttling of ex-HMAS Hobart in late 2002 created The Fleurieu Reef, and is one of Australia's premier scuba diving attractions. Unlike many other naval wrecks, the majority of the ship remains fully intact so divers can explore the engine rooms, mess decks, smoke stacks, missile launchers, gun turrets and bridge area. The artificial reef is just a 10-minute boat ride from Marina St Vincent on the Fleurieu Peninsula. The Historic Shipwrecks Act 1981 protects the reef and surrounding environment and divers wishing to dive on the wreck require a permit. For further information or permit applications refer to the ex HMAS Hobart website. Visit here for a comprehensive list of wonderful dive sites in South Australia. Western Australia.Nestled within the watery depths of the coast of Western Australia are some of the most astonishing dive spots in the world.
Spanning a distance of 260 km along the coastline Ningaloo is considered the longest fringing reef in the world. Ningaloo is also Western Australia’s largest scuba diving site and is swarming with a highly active marine life. During the months of April to July divers get the opportunity to swim with Whale Sharks, considered the gentle giants of the underwater world; graceful Manta Rays between the months of May and November; Shy Dugongs or Sea Cows from May to August; and throngs of Humpback whales from June to September. Divers also enjoy the company of Dolphins, Stingrays, Sharks, and Turtles throughout the year. Another must-visit dive site is Muiron Islands. Situated at around 10 km North East of Exmouth, the Murion Islands are home to Manta rays, Dolphins, Shearwaters, Turtles, Ospreys, Dugongs, and occasionally to Humpback whales as well. The maximum depth of 20 m that dive sites around Murion Islands offer are ideal for both skilled and novice divers. Mid-water diving spots that are located against its reefs are teeming with beautiful sea creatures ranging from timid potato cod to colourful reef fish. Another prominent scuba diving spot to that you should always try to include in your diving itinerary is Point Murat Navy Pier. To experience first-hand the exhilarating dive beneath the depths of Point Murat is one of the memories you’ll always cherish. Point Murat is inhabited by exotic sea creatures such as moray eels, lion fish, gropers, scorpion fish, and lots more. Guided group dives are usually done in this wonderful diving spot, so you can be assured you won't miss a single spectacular detail of this once-in-a-lifetime diving experience while you share it with fellow divers. Comprising various popular scuba diving spots that boast of diverse marine life, it's no wonder why many scuba diving enthusiasts prefer Western Australia to any other diving spots in the country. With all these place to dive you really can......enjoy John. Visit here for a comprehensive list of wonderful dive sites in Western Australia. Discount Shopping | Discount Travel | Special Travel Deals | Discount Attractions Our RSS feed will be updated periodically with all the latest travel deals and special offers. Please subscribe by clicking the button to the left (XML/RSS) to receive notice of these updates without any risk or obligation. PLEASE NOTE: If you don't know what an RSS feed is just click this link. Click here to return from Scuba diving to The Discount Travel Guide home page.
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All wonderful diving destinations that guarantee excellent undersea adventures for everyone.
While Australia boasts a number of wonderful diving destinations, which are well distributed among its mainland territories and states the most famous diving spot in Australia, possibly in the world, is in Queensland.
Both diving spots have 16 to 30-metre depths and feature fascinating sea life.Meanwhile, 
The Mornington Pier offers an extensive reef system and a very challenging dive that will bring you through rocks and boat ramps, you would need to be extra cautious about the boat traffic when you are submerged in this part because one of its reefs reaches the boat ramp. 
And the cave walls literally resemble a painter's abstract because of the invertebrates covering the walls.
The jewel in the scuba diving crown of South Australia however is the Fleurieu Reef, an hour south of Adelaide, and which features the scuttled ex-HMAS Hobart. 
The Ningaloo reef is situated along the outlying coast north of Western Australia. 
