Best Diving in Australia

[tjbrh]

Hello,

I will be in Australia at the end of May and would like to know where is the best place to go diving. I will be arriving in Perth, but don't mind travelling to get to the best dive site there is. Any and all information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much,

Tony

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Hello,

I will be in Australia at the end of May and would like to know where is the best place to go diving. I will be arriving in Perth, but don't mind travelling to get to the best dive site there is. Any and all information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks much,

Tony

hi there from a displaced British Columbian. Before anyone can give you much helpful information you'll need to let us know a bit more info.... how long are you here for? Where will you go besides Perth? What type of diving are you into? Is there anything in particular you want to see?

It is a huge country with a very broad spectrum of dive sites from coast to coast. The diving is brilliant, the people are friendly and helpful. I am sure you will enjoy your Australian trip no matter where you wind up diving.

 

[mibz]

hey tony im currently over in solomon islands but when i get back to australia i can show you around some dive sites, albany is great so is fremantle.

this army deployment in one of the best scuba locations for ww2 stuff and the australian army wont let me dive it

 

[tjbrh]

Having never been to Australia before I'm looking at a Map at Perth in Western Australia and then east to New South Wales. I have heard there are some great places to dive in New South Wales. Can the same be said for the Perth area, or should I travel to New South Wales?

 

[bowlofpetunias]

Having never been to Australia before I'm looking at a Map at Perth in Western Australia and then east to New South Wales. I have heard there are some great places to dive in New South Wales. Can the same be said for the Perth area, or should I travel to New South Wales?

Depends on what you want to see and if you want to do boat dives or shore dives. There is some phenomenal shore diving in and around Sydney... Fishrock has amazing dive sites esp the cave and sharks.... Everyone will happily tell you about how awesome the diving is in their area, region or state... I am obviously biased in favour of NSW:blinking:

The other thing you may want to consider is cost... accommodation... travel to dive site and other things of interest in the area. Are you traveling with anyone? What time frame are looking at...

 

[tjbrh]

I will be in Australia the third week of May and plan on spending a week to 10 days there. My wife may or may not be joining which will drastically change the type of accomodations and diving I will be interested in. Should I be alone I would be looking for dirt cheap accomodation and as much bottom time as possible. If my wife is with me I would be looking for a bit of a nicer place to stay, still lots of diving but some other tourist activites as well.

Tony

 

[bowlofpetunias]

I will be in Australia the third week of May and plan on spending a week to 10 days there. My wife may or may not be joining which will drastically change the type of accomodations and diving I will be interested in. Should I be alone I would be looking for dirt cheap accomodation and as much bottom time as possible. If my wife is with me I would be looking for a bit of a nicer place to stay, still lots of diving but some other tourist activites as well.

Tony

With only a week to 10 days and allowing for the fact you can't dive before your flight you don't have much time to consider traveling to other locations. This would be like someone saying to you... I am planning to be in Canada for a week to 10 days... where should I dive. I am landing in Vancouver but I heard the diving in Ontario is good so I am willing to travel there. I am not trying to be cheeky with that response just trying to put it in perspective for you.

Is there a reason you are flying into Perth? If not, you may want to make your decision about where you want to dive and get a connecting flight there immediately. Australia isn't much smaller than Canada so flying is the best option but you can't dive before you fly so there is a major planning problem with it.

 

[Air One]

I was in NSW in Feb, I wanted to dive with the Grey Nurse Sharks ans the fur seals ( that we don't have here in Europe). So I went to Seals Rock/Forster and Montague Island/Narooma.
Great places for diving OMHO, and not only for that.
Here's a small trip report

I also really had like to go to Jervis Bay, Merimbulla and South West Rocks. But there's so much things to do in this country :shocked2: that it's very easy to forget diving !

Tha Aus$ is quite low at the moment, that makes much cheaper hollidays, you can have very good accomodation for peanuts. The Australian also love their country (So do I...), that makes them VERY wellcoming.
Even the customs were wellcoming ! Wich is quite rare in this world.
But they are also very serious :
don't try to bring any food, they could lose their smile.
Also, you have to be carefull to have clean shoes and if you bring your tent, the pecks must be cleen ( no earth on them).

Australia is fun, it's great people are enthousiastic : I'll go back.

 

[tjbrh]

Unfortunately I have no say in my arrival location as I am coming in on a ship. However, I am leaving by plane so my departure point is a bit more flexible. That being said you are right that additional travelling just cuts into bottom time, so the question is, do I waste a day travelling to NSW, or do I stick it out in Perth?

Tony

 

[Gudge]

so the question is, do I waste a day travelling to NSW, or do I stick it out in Perth?

While there is plenty of diving to be had around Perth I wouldn't exactly call it the best diving in Australia (based on 10 years of living and diving there). The end of May is an excellent time to visit Ningaloo Reef (approx 1,300 km north of Perth) which has a wide range of very good diving. That time of year is whaleshark season. However, it is actually cheaper to fly from Perth to Sydney than it is to fly to Exmouth. Such are the joys of living in a remote area with one airline having a monopoly on the route.

South of Perth there is some very good diving around Busselton and Albany.