Tasmanian Divers South — Hobart

Tasmanian Divers South serves the Hobart region and southern Tasmania, an area that combines sheltered everyday diving with access to some of the most dramatic sites in the country.

Local diving centres on the D'Entrecasteaux Channel between Bruny Island and the mainland — sheltered from the open ocean in most conditions, with jetties, reef systems and wrecks in cool, nutrient-rich water that supports dense temperate life. Weedy seadragons, octopus, sponge gardens and crayfish are routine, and the area is associated with the critically endangered spotted handfish.

Within reach are the two destinations that define Tasmanian diving: the Tasman Peninsula with its dolerite sea caves, walls and the deep SS Nord, and Bicheno's Governor Island Marine Reserve with its exceptional sponge gardens.

Cold water is the constant. Eleven to eighteen degrees means a seven millimetre semi-dry as the practical minimum and a drysuit for anyone diving regularly through winter. The consequences extend well beyond comfort — weighting, buoyancy as neoprene compresses, trim, mobility, gas consumption and task loading all change together.

For a diver certified in warm water, that combination is the reason an orientation dive is worth doing. Managing four new variables at once is considerably easier with an instructor present.

The D'Entrecasteaux Channel's shelter is its practical value. When the Tasman Peninsula is unworkable — which swell frequently makes it — the channel generally still offers diving, which for a local means diving most weekends rather than only the settled ones.

The spotted handfish is the southern Tasmanian species most divers hope to see and the one least worth targeting. It is critically endangered, confined to a very small area, and the correct response to finding one is to leave it entirely alone and report the sighting.