Queensland
Diving in Capricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Great Keppel Island and its neighbours off Yeppoon have fringing coral reefs, the Barren Island walls and Man and Wife Rocks in clearer water further out, and the artificial reef of the Cementco wreck. It is a laid-back, uncrowded alternative to the big reef towns.
Dive sites in this region
ReefCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Monkey Beach (Great Keppel Island)
Great Keppel's best snorkelling reef: dense staghorn and plate coral in 1-6 m, hawksbill turtles and a sheltered beach reachable…
IslandCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Barren Island
Outer-edge Keppel island with the region's best visibility, terraced ledges to 30 m, tunnels full of big cod, and passing…
ReefCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Big Peninsula (Great Keppel Island)
Sheltered, shallow and close to the dive base – Great Keppel's go-to site for training, night dives and gentle drifts.
ReefCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Clam Bay (Great Keppel Island)
A quiet southern bay with a broad reef flat and coral trout breeding ground, at its best when northerlies blow out the western…
WallCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Egg Rock
The Keppels' signature advanced dive: walls, crevices and swim-throughs to 30 m inside a long-standing green zone, so the fish…
ReefCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Halfway Island (Keppels)
A sheltered staghorn coral garden in 7 m, busy with small fish, feather stars and sea snakes.
ReefCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Man & Wife Rocks
The Keppels' most dependable site: a 6-8 m plateau and wall to 18-25 m with wobbegongs, turtles and good macro life.
ReefCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Middle Island Underwater Observatory Site
Shallow coral patches and the remains of a former underwater observatory – an easy training site with plenty of sea snakes.
ReefCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Olive Point (Middle Island)
Shallow coral gardens where curious olive sea snakes are almost guaranteed.
ReefCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
One Bum Beach (Barren Island)
An easy, sheltered fringing reef on Barren Island – long, shallow bottom times in clearer outer-bay water.
Pinnacle/BommieCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Outer Rock (Keppels)
An isolated outer rock with gutters, coral gardens, Maori wrasse and winter humpbacks.
Pinnacle/BommieCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Parker Bommie (Great Keppel Island)
An exposed pinnacle rising from 17 m almost to the surface, thick with sea fans, sponges and black coral trees.
ReefCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Shelving Beach (Great Keppel Island)
The closest snorkel reef to Great Keppel's accommodation, with coral, boulder fields and walking epaulette sharks in the shallows.
DriftCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
The Gulch (Barren & Child Islands)
The Keppels' signature drift: a sea-whip-lined channel between two islands that ends in shallow boulder swim-throughs.
ReefCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Wreck Beach (Great Keppel Island)
A quiet far-side bay with a 2 m-high brain coral thought to be around 420 years old.
ReefCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Bald Rock (Keppels)
A south-coast rock reef with plate corals, black coral trees and resident batfish and wobbegongs.
Details need confirmationIslandCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Child Island
Granite boulder swim-throughs and coral gardens in the clearer water of the outer Keppels.
Details need confirmationWreckCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
FV Linda Jane Wreck
A little-known 35 m trawler wreck whose unpublished position has kept its big groper, red emperor and jewfish intact.
Details need confirmationWreckCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
FV Miss Shoalhaven Wreck
A decaying 1988 timber trawler at 33 m that has become a barracuda and ray magnet.
Details need confirmationWallCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Flat Rock (Keppels)
A rarely visited deep drop-off to 30 m with giant sea fans and black coral trees, two hours beyond Great Keppel.
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 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 confirmationIslandCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Humpy Island (Keppels)
Several sheltered fringing-reef sites on the southern side – the Keppels' fallback on northerly days.
Details need confirmationReefCapricorn Coast & Keppel Islands
Passage Rocks (Great Keppel Island)
A tidal channel site with the Keppels' greatest hard coral diversity.
Details need confirmation