The Pines

Meet the site

The Pines is one of the most popular ForestrySA cave sites and a dual-rated dive: the CDAA lists it as Cave with an Advanced Cave section. Its description is simple – 'small entrance cuts back to large clear chamber; lower level between rocks can cloud up badly' – and that captures the dive well.

The squeeze of the entrance gives way to a big, open chamber with clear water that feels spacious after the approach, and it is this chamber that most Cave divers come for. Lights reveal rock walls and a floor broken into boulders; the lower level between the rocks is where silt lies thickest and where visibility can be destroyed in moments, so good divers stay high and keep their fins still.

Below 25 m, two stop signs mark the start of the Advanced Cave section. Cave-level divers must not go past them, and the CDAA requires more than the standard Advanced Cave rating to continue: advanced decompression, extended range and advanced nitrox certifications, reflecting the deeper, decompression-heavy nature of that part of the cave.

As a ForestrySA site it is booked through the forestry portal and closes on Total Fire Ban days. For newly rated Cave divers it is a rewarding step up from the Engelbrecht East passage; for technical divers the deep section offers a genuine decompression cave dive close to Mount Gambier. Book early in summer, when fire bans can remove several days at short notice.

What you might see

Very little – occasional cave crustaceans

Location

A ForestrySA cave near Mount Gambier where a small entrance opens into a large clear chamber, with an Advanced Cave section below stop signs at 25 m.

Facilities nearby

None – forest parking. Fills in Mount Gambier.