The world‘s finest diving

Australia

A rollicking 6 months of my earlier life was spent in Australia, hitching from pillar to post, enjoying the people, the climate, the incredible diving. I returned a few years ago for 6 weeks – and everything was as wonderful as I remembered. You’ll never find a warmer welcome anywhere than you’ll find in Australia ! This affable land also affords a fabulous variety of diving from luscious corals to ocean giants.

You’ve got the warm and colorful waters of the Great Barrier Reef and the energizing cold waters off the south coast of Australia. There in the south, you may be lucky enough to dive with the acclaimed shark expert Rodney Fox, who arranges 3-5 night Great White Shark trips aboard his 23 meter vessel Princess II.

A word from Dom

Check out our favourite liveboards in Australia after decades of exploring!

Most of our liveaboards are on Live Search. You can search for spaces, rates & other details. Choose your destination, apply the filters … and away you go!

To help you plan your trip, we’ve prepared a list of basic information you’ll want to know before you book.

Dive The Untouched Zones Of The Great Barrier Reef

Australian diving offers everything from the tame to the treacherous. This myriad of scuba diving experiences also ranges from day-boat diving, where you get crowds of divers and a plethora of boats in limited spaces …. to the stunning remote stretches of outer reef and islands, accessible only by liveaboard, where you find peace, tranquility, healthy corals, “zillions” of fish and an unbelievable number of shark species.

Our recommendation for diving Australia will always be a liveaboard trip, which will take you to find, in addition to vibrant reefs with a variety of coral fish and intriguing creatures, plenty of sharks and everybody’s favorite Australian marine creature, the massive Potato Cod.

Further afield, you can find exotic scuba diving in the Coral Sea which is dotted underwater with extinct volcanoes, vast walls, glorious corals and lively pelagic action. And, everywhere you look you find turtles – several different species of them – plus dolphins, whales and sharks. Sharks, sharks, sharks are around every corner.

Explore Wrecks, Caves, Sharks & Whales

Do you know that southern Australia offers the adrenaline rush of diving with the Great Whites? And what about diving the incredible giant kelp forests off the shores of Tasmania where you find not only humongous kelp but also those intriguing leafy sea dragons? Are you aware that Australia offers some fine wreck diving and some wonderful cave dives?

Have you ever seen a thresher shark? a zebra shark? a bronze whaler? a pygmy shark? a sawfish shark?

All of those and so many more are possible sightings in Australian waters. Our favorite liveaboards offer special trips to dive with Australia’s unique species ….

Dive Liveaboards Will Whisk You Away From The Crowds

You can dive from one of many land-based options or day boats … but serious scuba divers who wish to experience the most remote areas and to access the best of the diving in Australia, will want to be on a dive liveaboard. We have chosen the liveaboard vessels we have full confidence in. They run reliable, safety-conscious, professional diving adventures which we recommend without hesitation.

MASSIVE CORALS: table corals, brain corals, staghorn corals, cauliflower corals … along with GORGONIANS, feather stars, anemones & SPONGES. Then you have sharks, sharks, sharks & MORE SHARKS (roughly 180 shark species) plus 45 species of WHALES, DOLPHINS & PORPOISES. Add in colorful REEF FISH galore, PELAGIC FISH a-plenty, turtles,eels, a variety of RAYS and some fine critters, including those “alien” SEA DRAGONS. The icing on the cake is cage-diving with GREAT WHITES.

Choose Your Australia Diving Adventure

Ribbon Reefs & Cod Hole

One of the finest dive areas is known as The Ribbon Reefs – long, thin strips of reef at the far edge of the Great Barrier Reef (roughly 50 km – 100 km from the northern shores of Queensland). Here you find generally excellent visibility & calm seas, superb reef life – both large & small – and some wonderful ...

Coral Sea Trips

You can choose to dive further out from the Ribbon Reefs in the Coral Sea itself. The most popular destination her is Osprey Reef, the most northerly of the reefs in the Coral Sea. The reef, basically an oval, consists of a relatively shallow lagoon area, and shelves outside the reef which plunge 1,000 meters deep. This creates an ideal ...

Far North Great Barrier Reef

An expedition to the far north traverses the coastline from Cairns to Ashmore Reef. One of the last totally pristine areas of the Great Barrier Reef, this area is seldom visited & many of the reefs in the region are yet to be explored. Australia’s spring & early summer is the best time to dive the outer walls of the ...

Wreck of the Yongala

Considered one of the world’s top wreck dives & protected as a national heritage site, no penetration diving is allowed on the wreck of this formerly glorious passenger liner. Overcome in a cyclone in 1911 all lives aboard were lost & the ship remained undiscovered until 1958. Today she is covered with beautiful corals, sea fans, whips and sponges … ...

Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions

Rodney Fox has a fascinating history with sharks which began with being savagely attacked by a Great White while participating in a fishing competition. The experience was life transforming and Rodney today is one of the world’s premier supporters of sharks, in particular the magnificent Great Whites. He lectures, he advocates, he educates, he conducts research and in partnership with ...