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
ReefCairns
Great Adventures Pontoon Reef (Moore Reef)
Pontoon diving combined with a Green Island stop – easy certified and intro dives for mixed groups.
Details need confirmationReefLady Elliot Island
Groupers Grovel (Lady Elliot Island)
Rarely visited eastern grooves where grouper hide.
Details need confirmationPinnacle/BommieCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Half Tide Rock (Great Keppel Island)
A compact rock reef off Great Keppel's north coast smothered in soft corals and anemones.
Details need confirmationReefSunshine Coast
Halls Reef
An inshore Laguna Bay reef in 15-20 m, 2 km from the Noosa bar – a quiet alternative to Jew Shoal.
Details need confirmationReefCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Hannah Rock (Keppels)
A deep whip and black coral garden to 30 m off Great Keppel's rarely dived south coast.
Details need confirmationReefWhitsundays & Bowen
Haslewood Island – Waite Bay
Very good coral cover with a wall to 18 m and winter manta rays in a quiet southern Whitsunday bay.
Details need confirmationWallCairns
Hastings Wall
The outer wall of Hastings Reef, with coral growing even inside its undercuts and caves.
Details need confirmationReefSwain Reefs
Hixson Cay (Swain Reefs)
A sheltered anchorage with bright shallow coral gardens and sharks and pelagics deeper.
Details need confirmationReefSwain Reefs
Hook Reef (Swain Reefs)
Coral garden complex with excellent fish and invertebrate life, recovering well.
Details need confirmationAircraft WreckFar Northern Reef & Torres Strait
Horn Island WWII sites
Scattered B-17 bomber debris in the tidal shallows off a WWII airfield – history rather than scenery.
Details need confirmationWreckTownsville & Magnetic Island
Horseshoe Bay Wrecks (Magnetic Island)
Two shallow modern wrecks – a 40 m burnt-out floating-restaurant ketch and a prawn trawler – in the island's most sheltered bay…
Details need confirmationReefSwain Reefs
Horseshoe Reef (Swain Reefs)
The Swains' most varied reef: a big sheltered lagoon, deep walls to 35 m and a wreck site.
Details need confirmationReefLady Musgrave & Bunker Group
Hoskyn Islands – Cabbage Patch
A small lagoon of creviced bommies and the shallow Cabbage Patch, excellent for night dives, beside a no-landing bird sanctuary.
Details need confirmationIslandCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Humpy Island (Keppels)
Several sheltered fringing-reef sites on the southern side – the Keppels' fallback on northerly days.
Details need confirmationWreckBrisbane & Moreton Bay
Hustler 3 Wreck
A small, coral-covered trawler wreck at 22 m that draws schools of sweetlips and snapper.
Details need confirmationReefLady Elliot Island
Inside (Lady Elliot Island)
A shallow reef-flat mooring near the Lighthouse quayway.
Details need confirmationAircraft WreckFar Northern Reef & Torres Strait
Japanese Zero wreck (Hammond Island)
A 1942 Japanese Zero fighter in 4 m off Hammond Island – rare WWII aviation history in the shallows.
Details need confirmationCave/CavernBrisbane & Moreton Bay
Jons Cave
A newly found multi-entrance cave system with black coral and crayfish under a kelp-topped reef on Moreton's wild eastern side.
Details need confirmationReefCairns
Jorgensen Patch
An exposed, current-swept patch reef with walls, gullies, caves and swim-throughs – for experienced divers only.
Details need confirmationWreckHervey Bay & K'gari
K'gari Wreck (Roy Rufus Artificial Reef)
The broken, heavily encrusted hull of the 1897 K'gari at 16 m on Hervey Bay's historic artificial reef.
Details need confirmationReefRibbon Reefs & Lizard Island
Kate's Cathedral
A seldom-described mooring on Mike Ball's Ribbon Reef No. 10 itinerary.
Details need confirmationShore/Rock PlatformMackay
Keswick Island – Connie Bay & Basil Bay
Easy beginners' coral garden beside the Keswick Island ferry landing, with quiet independent shore diving.
Details need confirmationWreckBrisbane & Moreton Bay
Lady Norman (Curtin Artificial Reef)
Curtin's largest wreck, a 40 m coastal trader sitting apart on the western edge of the reef.
Details need confirmationFreshwater Lake/RiverAtherton Tablelands
Lake Barrine
The Tablelands' largest crater lake – deep, rain-fed and rarely dived, beside a 1926 teahouse.
Details need confirmation