AUSTRALIAN DESTINATIONS
Diving in External Territories
Explore 169 listed dive sites and find the local knowledge to help plan your visit.
THE LOCAL PLANNING BRIEF
Research each territory as its own destination
The external-territory collection groups geographically separate destinations for directory browsing. Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Norfolk Island and offshore reef records do not form one convenient travel region. Open the individual region page and build a separate transport, access and operator plan for that destination.
Choose the setting, then the trip Counts describe published records, not bookable trips or confirmed open sites.
There are 169 published site records across External Territories. The recorded categories include reef (51), wall (45), pinnacle/bommie (18), drift (13). These categories reflect the database; they are not a ranking, a conditions report or an assessment of your suitability.
Start with one of the regional pages below. State-wide totals are useful for browsing, but the actual choice should be made at the level of an operator, a site and a proposed itinerary.
Research operators in External Territories →Ask before booking
- Which territory and jurisdiction does this itinerary visit?
- What park or access permissions apply to the exact location?
- What is the contingency if transport changes?
Save the answers with the contact name and date. Separate confirmed arrangements from items still waiting for a reply.
Record your trip questions →Island stays
Confirm the route, accommodation, equipment availability and actual departure schedule with local providers. Do not assume a mainland travel pattern applies.
Offshore reefs
A mapped reef may have restricted access or no ordinary visitor departure. Check the responsible park manager and the operator’s permitted itinerary.
Contingency planning
Keep time and budget flexibility around transport. Identify which bookings depend on another service arriving as planned.
Questions, answered
How do I choose a dive in External Territories?
Begin with the individual site and its source notes, then discuss the proposed trip with a local provider. The 169 published records are research options, not a list of trips available today. Match the plan to your training, recent experience and the operator’s current requirements.
When should I visit External Territories for diving?
Choose dates with a provider who runs the activity you want, then discuss seasonal patterns, recent conditions and alternative itineraries. A generic best-month claim cannot establish the conditions at your exact site or guarantee a wildlife encounter.
Can I use these maps to enter or navigate a dive site?
No. Recorded and approximate map positions support orientation only. Confirm the exact access, permissions, meeting point and route with the responsible local provider or manager.
Regional planning context: Parks Australia — Australian Marine Parks ↗. Directory counts come from published YouDive records. Individual site claims remain subject to their source and review notes.
Find your region
Dive sites to explore
WallCoral Sea
Admiralty (Osprey Reef)
A coral village of huge bommies with a centuries-old anchor in a swim-through, flashlight fish at night and a sheer wall below.
WallCoral Sea
Amazing (Holmes Reef)
A shallow wall riddled with soft-coral-lined archways, swim-throughs and caves where sharks rest.
ReefCocos (Keeling) Islands
Broccoli Patch
Easy shallow coral garden to 10 m with a sandy floor – a perfect buoyancy-practice and snorkel site, often with turtles and…
ReefCocos (Keeling) Islands
Cabbage Patch
A hillside of golden cabbage coral 6–20 m across, glowing in sunlight and swarming with thousands of anthias and chromis; garden…
ReefCocos (Keeling) Islands
Cannons
Old cannons among Porites corals on sand, with garden eels and gobies – and a chance of dugong, dolphins and mantas.
Aircraft WreckCocos (Keeling) Islands
Catalina JX435 Wreck
Engines, propellers and a 600 m debris trail from a RAF Catalina that crashed landing in June 1945 – a shallow dive and a war…
DriftChristmas Island
Coconut Point
The island's classic drift: swirling currents, eel gardens, gorgonians and a chance of hammerheads, ten minutes from the jetty.
WallCocos (Keeling) Islands
Cologne Gardens
All-levels wall with a blooming coral reef top and big orange gorgonians deeper; snapper schools at full moon and bumphead…
ReefCoral Sea
Crystal Plateau (Bougainville Reef)
A clear-water hard-coral terrace on the edge of the abyss, with sharks and giant potato cod.
Cave/CavernCoral Sea
Dungeons & Dragons (Bougainville Reef)
A maze of caves and tunnels in the reef top, opening onto a 1,000 m wall patrolled by sharks and barracuda.
WreckChristmas Island
Eidsvold Wreck
WWII history in 5–18 m: the broken-up Norwegian freighter Eidsvold, torpedoed in Flying Fish Cove in 1942, now overgrown with…
ReefNorfolk Island
Emily Bay
Calm, sheltered lagoon snorkel over coral outcrops with Norfolk's endemic fish, in a World Heritage convict setting.
WallCoral Sea
False Entrance (Osprey Reef)
Spectacular bommies and blue-water swim-throughs in a blind gully, with schooling trevally and barracuda and dense grey reef…
ReefNorfolk Island
Fish Bowl (Nepean Island)
Pretty cave-riddled reef with eight Galapagos sharks and close to 40 m visibility on Nigel Marsh's dive.
Shore/Rock PlatformChristmas Island
Flying Fish Cove
Arguably Australia's best shore dive: a pristine coral slope and wall 50 m from the car park, endemic and hybrid reef fish, and…
WallCocos (Keeling) Islands
Garden of Eden
A forest of gorgonian sea fans rising like trees from 20–28 m, with schools of big-eye trevally – dived only when the wind drops…
WreckCoral Sea
MV Antonio Tarabocchia wreck
Engine block, propeller and scattered hull of a 1961 Italian freighter on coral terraces in very clear water, with a resident…
Pinnacle/BommieChristmas Island
Million Dollar Bommie
A solitary coral bommie rising from sand, with a dense garden eel colony and outstanding photography on the summit.
Pinnacle/BommieCoral Sea
Nonki Bommie (Holmes Reef)
A split pinnacle with a canyon between its two fingers, draped in giant sea fans and soft corals.
WallCoral Sea
North Horn (Osprey Reef)
Australia's most famous shark dive – 10–30 reef sharks around a controlled feed in a 12 m amphitheatre at the top of a 1,000 m…
WallCoral Sea
North Horn Wall (Osprey Reef)
A sheer drift along a wall dropping more than 1,000 m, with caves, overhangs, mantas and tuna.
WallChristmas Island
Perpendicular Wall
A true vertical wall into the abyss at the island's north-western tip, with colourful fans, schooling fish and a real chance of…
WreckCocos (Keeling) Islands
Phaeton Wreck
An 1868 composite barque burnt and run aground in 1889, its iron-framed bow and midships still upright in 4 m – snorkel through…
WallChristmas Island
Rhoda Wall
Coral slope, sheer wall and a quarry-like ramp, with schooling grey reef sharks and some of the island's closest whale shark…