Dive centres · 2026 guide
Staying where you dive changes a trip: more dives, no early transfers, and time for night dives. These operators combine diving with accommodation, from coral-cay resorts to diver lodges and overnight reef stays.
Island resorts cap visitor numbers, so book early for school holidays and peak seasons.
1
Merimbula, New South Wales
An SSI dive centre with its own accommodation, classroom, shop, air and Nitrox and a purpose-built boat, running small classes on the far south coast.
Describes itself as a fully integrated dive centre with accommodation, classroom, shop, air and Nitrox, and a purpose-built dive boat.
Classes are usually no more than four students, from Open Water through Instructor Training.
2Geelong & Bellarine Peninsula, Victoria
A Geelong PADI 5 Star IDC serving Geelong and Melbourne's west, with air, Nitrox and Trimix, ScubaPro servicing, guided boat and shore dives, and accredited first aid training.
Listed by PADI as a 5 Star Instructor Development Centre with nine instructors, teaching in several languages.
Authorised ScubaPro dealer; lists air, Nitrox, Trimix and mixed gas fills and equipment servicing.
3
Point Lookout, Queensland
North Stradbroke Island's only full-service scuba centre and an SSI Instructor Training Center, with two boats, on-site lodging, and technical and freediving training.
Operating since 1992; listed by SSI as an Instructor Training Center.
Runs two dive vessels with on-site accommodation for dive holidays and live-in training.
4
Christmas Island, Western Australia
Christmas Island's locally operated dive centre in Settlement, with a 16-diver boat at Flying Fish Cove, shore and night dives, courses and diver accommodation.
Locally operated full-service dive centre in Settlement.
Its boat takes up to 16 divers and is moored at the wharf in Flying Fish Cove; shore dives in the cove and night dives are also offered.
5Bundaberg & Southern Great Barrier Reef, Queensland
A resort on a no-day-tripper coral cay off Gladstone whose PADI Marine Centre runs three boat dives a day plus night dives to around 20 nearby sites.
The Heron Island Marine Centre is PADI affiliated and teaches from Discover Scuba to Advanced Open Water.
Runs three boat dives a day plus night dives, in small guided groups, from three boats; sites include Heron Bommie, Gorgonia Hole and Three Rocks.
6
Tasman Peninsula & Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania
The principal operation at Eaglehawk Neck, servicing the Tasman Peninsula's sea caves, walls and deeper wrecks.
Listed as a PADI 5 Star Dive Centre at Eaglehawk Neck, operating since 1991 and about an hour from Hobart.
Facilities listed include a training pool, classroom, retail shop, dive boat, on-site accommodation and Wi-Fi.
7
South West Rocks, New South Wales
A family-run South West Rocks operation that has run daily charters to Fish Rock since 1980, including the 125-metre cave traverse.
States that 32% Nitrox has been the standard breathing gas for all divers since 2014, at no additional cost.
States that Nitrox certification is not required to dive on their trips — divers without it follow air-profile limits on their computer.
8
Cairns, Queensland
A Cairns liveaboard running three-, four- and seven-night trips to the Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs and Osprey Reef, with 11 ensuite cabins.
Runs 3, 4 and 7-night expeditions to the Cod Hole, Ribbon Reefs and Osprey Reef; trips board at Wharf Street in front of the Cairns cruise terminal.
The 7-night trip departs Thursdays with up to 26 dives and requires Advanced certification, 20 ocean dives and five dives in the last 12 months.
9Nelson Bay, New South Wales
A Nelson Bay SSI centre running Broughton Island boat dives and Port Stephens shore dives, with rebreather and Extended Range training.
Runs double boat dives to Broughton Island's grey nurse sharks and Looking Glass, plus historic wreck dives.
SSI programmes listed include rebreather and Extended Range (XR).
10Hobart, Tasmania
Hobart's only PADI 5 Star dive centre, operating since 2003, with a city store and The Adventure Lodge divers' accommodation at Eaglehawk Neck.
Operating since 2003; its central Hobart store is listed as the city's only PADI 5 Star dive centre.
The store has a retail showroom, rental and servicing department, tank-filling station and classroom; courses run from Open Water to professional level.
11Melbourne, Victoria
A PADI 5 Star IDC that now describes itself as the only dive centre based on Western Port Bay, diving Flinders' seadragon habitat and Port Phillip's piers and reefs.
Listed by PADI as a 5 Star Instructor Development Centre; it describes itself as the only dive centre based on Western Port Bay.
Courses run from Discover Scuba and Open Water to Advanced, Rescue, Divemaster, specialties, ReActivate and junior programmes.
12
Townsville, Ayr & the SS Yongala, Queensland
An Ayr-based operation specialising in the SS Yongala, with a shorter boat transit to the wreck than Townsville departures.
Operator requirements for the SS Yongala vary across the operators servicing the wreck. Published guidance across the market indicates Advanced Open Water or Deep Diver certification is strongly recommended.
Open Water certified divers are commonly required to hold a minimum number of logged dives, with figures between 6 and 10 stated by different operators, and to complete a deep orientation dive with an instructor on a first wreck dive.
Centres are ordered by how much of what they offer we could confirm from a primary source — training agencies, boats, courses, gas fills, servicing — plus published contact details and photos. It is a documentation ranking, not a review score, and nobody pays to be listed.
No. Listings and order come from our research only. Businesses can ask us to correct their details, but not to change their position.
It is generated from the directory's latest research, checked in 2026. Conditions, operators and seasons change — confirm details with the operator before you book.