AUSTRALIAN DESTINATIONS
Diving in Queensland
Explore 594 listed dive sites and find the local knowledge to help plan your visit.
THE LOCAL PLANNING BRIEF
Choose your reef gateway before your accommodation
Queensland research starts with the departure region. Cairns and Port Douglas, the southern reef islands, Townsville and the south-east coast appear in different parts of this directory. Treat them as separate trip choices: being in Queensland does not put every reef or wreck within reach of the same boat. Work from a proposed operator itinerary back to your accommodation and transfers.
Choose the setting, then the trip Counts describe published records, not bookable trips or confirmed open sites.
There are 594 published site records across Queensland. The recorded categories include reef (290), pinnacle/bommie (73), wall (70), wreck (52). 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 Queensland →Ask before booking
- Which port and vessel will run our trip?
- Is the named reef a likely itinerary or a confirmed destination?
- What changes if our island transfer or boat departure moves?
Save the answers with the contact name and date. Separate confirmed arrangements from items still waiting for a reply.
Record your trip questions →Northern reef gateways
Compare Cairns and Port Douglas by the actual departure, return time and proposed trip. Ask which sites are possibilities rather than fixed promises.
Islands and southern reef
For island-based trips, confirm how arrival transfers connect with the diving schedule and what equipment must be reserved.
South-east Queensland
Use the Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and island region pages to distinguish boat departures, shore access and wreck-related records.
Questions, answered
How do I choose a dive in Queensland?
Begin with the individual site and its source notes, then discuss the proposed trip with a local provider. The 594 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 Queensland 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: Tourism and Events Queensland — accessing the Great Barrier Reef ↗. 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
ReefLady Elliot Island
Coral Gardens (Lady Elliot Island)
Lady Elliot's prettiest shallow coral, with open archways and swim-throughs and schooling barracuda – an ideal first dive.
ReefRibbon Reefs & Lizard Island
Coral Kingdom
Dense, colourful branching-coral gardens in the shallows with cuttlefish and bumphead parrotfish.
Pinnacle/BommieRibbon Reefs & Lizard Island
Cracker Jack
Vertical walls draped in soft corals, black coral and elephant-ear sponges, with late-summer glassfish clouds and pygmy seahorses.
WallCairns
Cucumber Alley (Pellowe Reef)
A shelf-edge wall with excellent visibility and big-fish action – trevally, barracuda, sharks and huge Napoleon wrasse.
Artificial ReefBrisbane & Moreton Bay
Curtin Artificial Reef
The world's first diver-built artificial reef – 30+ wrecks, a Brisbane tram and resident giant Queensland groupers.
DriftRibbon Reefs & Lizard Island
Dynamite Pass
A current-fed drift along one of the richest coral walls in the northern Ribbon Reefs, with caverns and reef sharks.
Pinnacle/BommieLady Musgrave & Bunker Group
Entrance Bommies (Lady Musgrave)
A drift past flower-like plate and foliose corals at the lagoon mouth, where tidal flow brings sharks, rays and trevally.
WreckSunshine Coast
Ex-HMAS Brisbane
Queensland's great destroyer wreck – 133 m, upright, funnels 3 m below the surface and 1000+ species – now with a…
ReefCairns
First Bommie (Norman Reef)
A calm lagoon with a very shallow coral garden and a swim-through bommie – ideal for new divers and snorkellers.
ReefCairns
Fish Bowl (Hastings Reef)
An enclosed 5 m coral bowl packed with reef fish, giant clams, a friendly Maori wrasse and early-morning bumphead parrotfish.
ReefRibbon Reefs & Lizard Island
Flare Point
Bright, shallow Acropora gardens with light rays and lagoon rays – the classic final dive of a Ribbon Reef trip.
ReefNorth Stradbroke Island
Flat Rock
A protected rock complex with four sites – coral gardens, turtle caves, a deep coral bowl and a winter grey nurse shark…
Pinnacle/BommieCairns
Flat-Top Bommie (Norman Reef)
A flat-topped coral outcrop beside a deep channel, with canyons and swim-throughs for all levels.
ReefBrisbane & Moreton Bay
Flinders Reef
Highest coral diversity of any subtropical reef on the east coast and Brisbane's best-known dive; the turtle cleaning station in…
WallPort Douglas
Gary's Gut (Agincourt Reef 4)
Dramatic 5–40 m wall with large fan corals and soft corals – the deepest dive on Agincourt 4.
ReefWhitsundays & Bowen
Gary's Lagoon (Bait Reef)
Sheltered coral-walled inlet with a sandy floor, turtles and wobbegongs – Bait Reef's safe option for snorkellers and new divers.
Shore/Rock PlatformGold Coast
Gold Coast Seaway – South Wall (Sand Bypass Pipe)
Australia's best city shore dive: giant groupers, rays and 400+ species along a breakwater and sand bypass pipe, with easy stair…
Shore/Rock PlatformGold Coast
Gold Coast Seaway – South-West Wall (Broadwater beach)
The easiest Seaway entry – a beach walk-in beside the car park onto a shallow rocky reef full of critters.
ReefCairns
Gordon's Mooring (Flynn Reef)
A field of small bommies and swim-throughs with a shallow giant-clam garden and frequent turtles.
ReefHeron Island & Capricorn Group
Gorgonia Hole (Heron Island)
A maze of cracks and small caves hung with gorgonians, where turtles wedge themselves in to rest and painted crays hide.
ReefRibbon Reefs & Lizard Island
Gotham City
A 30 m-long Pavona clavus colony, dusk mandarinfish and a lively night dive with hunting trevally and sharks.
ReefCairns
Green Island
The easiest reef diving from Cairns: guided beach dives on a national-park coral cay, with drift options to 21 m for certified…
WreckHeron Island & Capricorn Group
HMCS Protector Wreck (Heron Island)
An 1884 colonial gunboat with Boxer Rebellion and WWI service, now a harbour breakwater and fish haven snorkelled at high tide.
WreckFar Northern Reef & Torres Strait
HMS Pandora wreck
The 1791 wreck of the Bounty-hunting frigate HMS Pandora – a permit-only historic shipwreck at 30–33 m.