Dive with marine life · 2026 guide
Tasmania's underwater forests — dramatically diminished, and worth seeing while they remain.
Present year-round, generally at its densest and healthiest through the cooler months.
These 4 sites are where giant kelp forest encounters are best documented, with the operators who dive them.
1Tasman Peninsula & Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania
An enormous dolerite sea cave on the Tasman Peninsula, large enough to surface inside.
The dolerite columns that form the highest sea cliffs in the Southern Hemisphere continue underwater here, producing vertical walls, caves and architecture that is genuinely unusual.
Look for: Giant Kelp Forest
Eaglehawk Dive Centre
2Hobart, Tasmania
Sheltered channel diving near Hobart, with jetties, reefs and handfish habitat.
Sites include jetties, reef systems and wrecks, with the channel's cold, nutrient-rich water supporting dense temperate life.
Look for: Giant Kelp Forest, Seahorses & Pipefish, Spotted Handfish, Weedy Seadragon
Full D'Entrecasteaux Channel guide →3Bicheno, Tasmania
Granite walls and sponge gardens of unusual density and colour, protected since 1991.
The combination of protection, current-swept granite and cool nutrient-rich water produces sponge gardens of unusual density and colour — the site photographs far more vividly than most people expect from cold water.
Look for: Giant Kelp Forest
4Tasman Peninsula & Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania
Dolerite walls, sea caves and giant kelp beneath some of Australia's highest sea cliffs.
Sponge gardens cover the walls in dense colour, and giant kelp grows in the shallower areas where it remains.
Look for: Giant Kelp Forest
Eaglehawk Dive CentreSites 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.