Dive with marine life · 2026 guide
Endangered, endemic, and among the most genuinely playful animals a diver can meet.
Present year-round at colonies in South Australia and southern Western Australia. Weather rather than season usually determines access.
These 3 sites are where australian sea lion encounters are best documented, with the operators who dive them.
1Port Lincoln, South Australia
Australian sea lion colonies where curious young animals interact directly with snorkellers and divers.
The animals are curious and genuinely interactive, and the encounters happen in relatively shallow, sheltered water.
Look for: Australian Sea Lion
Full Port Lincoln Sea Lion Sites guide →
2Geraldton & Abrolhos Islands, Western Australia
122 islands 60 km offshore, where coral grows alongside kelp and the Batavia was lost in 1629.
The Leeuwin Current carries warm water south along the coast, allowing coral to grow here alongside temperate kelp — an overlap that occurs in very few places worldwide.
Look for: Australian Sea Lion
3Esperance, Western Australia
More than a hundred granite islands off Esperance, with sea lions and extraordinary clarity.
The water here can be extraordinarily clear, and the granite terrain combined with Australian sea lion colonies makes for diving unlike anywhere else in Western Australia.
Look for: Australian Sea Lion
Sites are chosen from our dive-site database and ordered by how well documented they are: flagship status, the number of operators we have confirmed dive there, and the marine life recorded. 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.
