If you’re tired of scuba diving the same old coral reefs and are looking to kick things up a notch in the adventure diving arena, head to Mount Gambier in Southern Australia! As we saw in our last post (click here if you missed it), it’s an under-rated destination and a must visit if you’re looking for some adventure and unbelievable cave diving experiences. Renowned for having some of the best freshwater lakes, sinkholes, caves and caverns; here’s a look at some of the scuba diving hot spots in Mount Gambier-

Engelbrecht Caves (Advanced cave)

The Engelbrecht Caves is a huge complex of limestone caves under the city of Mount Gambier. Tours for two of the chambers are offered where cave divers can enter the water to dive under the streets and the city itself.The western caves are accessed through a small crescent of water that leads to a 90-meter long flooded passage that finally opens into a huge air chamber. There’s roughly about 200 meters of passages and some air chambers. Although not much life, the intricate tunnels and the thought of diving under a city in clear waters are exciting enough to make this dive a must.

Piccaninnie Ponds (Sinkhole)

Easily the most popular sinkhole and cave dives of all of Australia, the Piccaninnie Ponds is almost certainly the purest, clearest water on Earth. The dive starts with a descent into a spectacular chasm around 5 m wide and 50 m long and that goes to a depth of 60meters. However, at 10 meters you’ll find an entrance in the wall that will bring you to The Cathedral. This beautiful white limestone walled chamber labeled the cathedral is lined with attractive aquatic weed growth and has water so clear you feel like you’re floating in air. From here you can exit from a second hole at 25 m, and explore the limestone walls of The Chasm and you can spot a variety of life including freshwater lobsters, crabs, shrimp, eels, pygmy perch, diving beetles and other insects. You do have to book ahead if you want to dive here though, because the number of visitors are restricted.

The Shaft (Sinkhole)

In a tiny hole in the middle of a huge flat field where you’d least expect to be diving, lies one of Australia’s most infamous but truly spectacular cave dive site- The Shaft. Aptly named because of it’s entrance which is an inconspicuous narrow shaft water drain, with only a swinging ladder to descend to the water 8 meters down the dingy shaft. Your scuba tanks are lowered down to you to kit up in the water, in the darkness. But once you’ve conquered the task of all the prep, the small lake chamber has a huge underwater chasm with some of the clearest waters in the world. The immense cave is impressive to say the least. It is quite deep, however the CDAA (Cave Divers Association of Australia) limits divers to a maximum depth of 40 meters at all it’s sites and care must be taken at this one in particular as many have perished for a variety of reasons diving this site. An outstanding dive, the shaft is definitely one of the most unique sinkhole dives in the world.

Tank Cave (Advanced Cave)

Tank cave is the longest submerged cave system in Australia which provides 7 kms of water filled caverns but only one entrance. Much of the cave is less than 15m deep, allowing long bottom times and some lengthy penetrations. However, you can dive here for days and it’ll still be not enough to explore all of the crystal water tunnels. The cave is even said to continue beyond the nearby Fossil Cave, which now seems to be part of the system as well.

Fossil Cave (Cave)

This site is paleontological research site as well as an interesting cave dive. The small oval pond leads to a single “chamber” roughly 10 meters long, 12 meters wide and 6 meters deep with dark silt at the bottom. At the far end is another chamber that penetrates a further distance of about 17 meters and is roughly 30m across, reaching a maximum (safely-achievable) depth of about 15 meters in a jumble of boulders known as “The Pit”. The think dark silt deposits require divers to have very good buoyancy when attempting this cave dive.

Other Dive sites:

The One Tree sinkhole dive site is a funnel-style cave, with a collapsed roof forming a rock pile 30 m below the surface. Passages lead down from the rock pile to 50 m, well beyond the safe diving limits. The Pines is another picturesque and readily accessible, popular cave diving sites in the Lower South East. It’s “cenote”-style sinkhole entrance is a portal to a large boulder-strewn cavern which is filled with “air-clear” water. Gouldens Hole, Hells hole, Little Blue Lake Kilsbys Sinkhole and The Sisters are some of the other popular dive holes in Mount Gambier.

Remember though, most of the dive sites lie on private property and permission and permits from the CDAA and property owners are a necessary requirement to diving the sinkholes and lakes of Mount Gambier. So visit http://www.cavedivers.com.au for more information.

*Image Credits: All photos by Saspotato on flickr