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...Highlights: great white sharks, shark action, dolphins, turtles, seals/sea lions, great macro life/ marine diversity, schooling fish & big pelagics, non diving activities...
...Diving environment: healthy reefs, walls, drift dives, cage diving, beginner and advanced divers...
Australia, a continent forged by sea and sun, is encircled by some of the planet's most spectacular and diverse marine environments. For scuba divers, it represents a pilgrimage to an aquatic frontier, offering experiences that range from the world's largest living structure to remote oceanic atolls and adrenaline-charged encounters with the ocean's ultimate predators. With a coastline stretching over 60,000 kilometres, diving in Australia is a vast tapestry, but 3 distinct threads shine with particular brilliance: the iconic Great Barrier Reef, the pristine wilderness of the Rowley Shoals, and the thrilling cage diving adventures of the Neptune Islands.
No introduction to Australian diving is complete without the legendary Great Barrier Reef. A UNESCO World Heritage site visible from space, this 2,300 km-long ecosystem is not a single reef but a vast network of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands. It is the planet's most extensive coral reef system, teeming with biodiversity. Dive operators provide multi-day liveaboard cruises from Cairns, granting access to renowned outer reef sites like Cod Hole, where massive potato cod interact with divers, and the spectacular Ribbon Reefs. Here, divers drift along walls adorned in soft corals, explore swim-throughs alive with colour, and witness a carnival of life including reef sharks, turtles, manta rays, and countless tropical fish species. It is an immersive experience into a complex, living mosaic that remains the cornerstone of global diving.
Australia has other great places to dive too. For unparalleled pristine wilderness, the remote Rowley Shoals off Western Australia offer a spectacular escape, where oceanic atolls like Clerke and Imperieuse Reefs rise from the deep. Accessed by multi-day liveaboard expeditions, divers experience phenomenal visibility and breathtaking coral gardens teeming with giant trevally, Napoleon wrasse, and clouds of tropical fish. In stark contrast, the cool waters of South Australia's Neptune Islands deliver a raw adrenaline encounter, where specialised operators provide incredible cage diving experiences with great white sharks. Participants come face-to-face with magnificent great whites, witnessing their power and grace as they patrol the waters, along with curious fur seals and diverse pelagic life, in an unforgettable, awe-inspiring confrontation with nature's apex predator. Here is the best place to find your widest choice of Australia liveaboards.
From the warm, tecnicolour reefs of Queensland and the remote atolls of the west to the chillingly beautiful encounters in the south, Australian scuba diving offers a spectrum of world-class adventures. Each location provides a unique chapter in the story of the ocean, inviting scuba divers to explore, marvel, and connect with the sea in its most spectacular forms.
Detailed information on the dive sites of Australia:
The Great Barrier Reef is not a single entity but a vast, living continent underwater, and scuba divers typically explore its wonders through 3 distinct regions. The Ribbon Reefs represent the reef system's pinnacle, best accessed on multi-day liveaboard trips. Here, at legendary sites like Cod Hole, divers can interact with massive, friendly potato cod, and experience exhilarating drift dives along a string of reefs, searching for some of Australia's best diving attractions such as wobbegongs. For true blue-water adventure, the remote Coral Sea lies beyond the outer reef, a destination for extended expeditions where isolated reefs and seamounts, such as Bougainville, Holmes and Osprey reefs, attract grey reef sharks and pelagic giants, including silkies, schools of hammerhead sharks, manta rays, marlin, and pristine coral ecosystems untouched by coastal influence. Together, these 2 regions offer the best diving in Australia.
From the tropical hub of Cairns, the Cairns Outer Barrier Reef offers accessible diving to iconic sites like Norman and Saxon Reefs, where vibrant coral gardens, giant clam beds, and green sea turtles create a classic introduction to the reef's magic.
For those seeking true wilderness and untouched coral gardens, the Rowley Shoals represent a diving nirvana in Australia. Located approximately 300 km off the coast of Broome in Western Australia, these 3 oceanic atolls - Clerke, Imperieuse, and Mermaid Reefs - rise 400m from the abyssal plain. Accessed only by liveaboard expeditions, the Rowley Shoals Marine Park is celebrated for its exceptional water clarity, dramatic coral formations, sheer vertical walls, and drift diving through deep canyons. The dramatic tides here have created unearthly coral landscapes, with over 200 species of coral and 650 species of fish. Sites like The Aquarium at Clerke Reef are famed for their crystal clear visibility and dense populations of friendly, curious fish. The isolation of the Rowley Shoals guarantees pristine corals and a sense of discovery, offering a rare glimpse into a remote and perfectly preserved marine ecosystem.
In the cool, nutrient-rich waters off South Australia lies a diving experience of a different kind: the ultimate face-to-face encounter with the great white shark. The beautiful Neptune Islands, near Port Lincoln, are the only place in Australia, and one of the few in the world, where you can safely observe these magnificent apex predators in their natural environment. Secured within a specially designed cage at the surface or submerged on the ocean floor, participants witness the raw power and grace of great whites as they glide past, often just inches away. The park is also home to large breeding colonies of New Zealand fur seals and leafy seadragons. It is a profound, heart-pounding experience that shifts perspectives, fostering a deep respect for a creature often misunderstood and forever etching its image into the memory of those who dare.
Great Barrier Reef liveaboards are the most popular way to make the most of your diving holiday to Australia. Due to the distances involved in visiting the Ribbon Reefs and the Coral Sea, they are accessible on liveaboard tours only, usually 3, 4, or 7 nights long. The more accessible Outer Barrier Reef can be visited on liveaboards as short as 1-night long, or by Cairns diving day-trips, whichever you prefer.
Week-long Rowley Shoals liveaboard expeditions operate only through October each year and are therefore very limited in number, so book well in advance. Short South Australia cage diving trips operate all year round but there is only one operator and they are very popular so, again, we recommend you plan well ahead For more information on all these cruises, see our Australia liveaboards page.
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Australia as a whole is a year round dive destination since there is always something going on. For most part, July to November are the most popular time for Australia liveaboard diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Water temperatures on the Great Barrier Reef range from 29°C in the summer period of December to February, down to 23°C during the winter months of June to August. Visibility peaks from June to September, and the calmest sea conditions tend to be between September and February. June to November is the driest and coolest period, when rainfall is rare. The summer months of December to February are warmest and experience the most rainfall. Minke whale season is usually from June to August.
October is the month for liveaboard trips to the Rowley Shoals in Western Australia. Water temperatures vary between 27-30°C / 81-86°F. You can expect visibility over 20m and sometimes much more. Warm clothes are recommended for early mornings and evenings.
In South Australia, the season for diving with great white sharks runs from May to February. Generally speaking May to October sees the most predator action since this is the time when young seals venture out in search of food. November until February is considered summer time and often sees plenty of action for great whites since thousands of seals gather at this time to give birth. This is also the best time for bronze whalers and mako sharks. May, June and July are the best months for seeing large female great white sharks. So no matter what time of year you visit, there is always something awesome going on (except for March and April). Giant cuttlefish mating season is May to June.
For more information on the climate and sea conditions of Australia, visit the Bureau of Meteorology website.
Review our maps below of Australia and its location in the world. Here, you will find information on how to get to Australia.
5 - >40m
10 - 40m
Gentle to moderate
Usually calm but can be choppy
15 - 29°C
Beginner - advanced
>300
1 - 2 weeks
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