Fish Rock Cave is world-famous as one of Australia's premier dive sites - and for good reason. Despite the fact that it attracts many hundreds of recreational divers each year the tunnel or swimthrough is a serious no-clear-surface dive.

Despite this you don't have to be cave-certified to dive Fish Rock Cave.

BSAC Safe Diving Guidelines say:

Some diving with no clear surface requires different equipment, certain skills and techniques. You should make sure that you have appropriate formal training and equipment for the diving environment you are in.

The club view is that special equipment, skills and techniques might be useful but are not required. There’s no reasonable possibility of not being able to find the exit or of becoming trapped. It’s a simple structure, our group is led by a guide and there is no real potential for blinding silt-out. In the event of an out of gas emergency anywhere in the Cave another open water diver could assist the out of gas diver using recreational equipment and exit the cave.

… But

The site is not without hazards. It has to be said that a medical problem or panic reaction deep in the tunnel is more likely to result in death or serious injury. Direct access to the surface would require a long underwater swim first. Once at the surface there may be a long wait and possibly a long surface swim before surface cover is alerted to the emergency. Around the Rock weather and water conditions such as surge and current can make open water diving challenging. 

For these reasons we have minimum experience requirements for divers. These are:

• At least 30 dives, with good ‘recency’ of diving;

• Competent and confident in:

  • General diving skills such as buoyancy and finning control,

  • Diving inside a recreational overhead site such as the ex-HMAS Brisbane,

  • Mask-replacement and swimming without a mask, and

  • Deploying and ascending on a DSMB;

• Advanced Open Water certification or above in order to dive to the deep end of the Cave.

Is it for you?

As BSAC advises: 

Whether to go inside an overhead environment is ultimately a judgement call for you based on your own assessment of the hazards and your own assessment of your abilities, training, and experience … Similarly your buddy is responsible for making their own decision on whether to go inside an overhead environment. You should not pressure them to do something they are not comfortable doing. Nor should you be pressured yourself.

Before signing up, assess your skills and the hazards of the site.  If you decide to attend, assess the conditions and your feelings on the day. You and your buddy can have an amazing dive in the open water around Fish Rock. You can also decide to limit yourselves to the light penetration zone in the Bubble Cave.

If you decide to do the swim-through and your buddy needs your AS, a longer hose will be better than a short one if you need to swim out together. Two torches are better than one. And having a spare mask handy might save your dive as well as stopping a mishap from turning into an incident.

If you decide to visit Fish Rock then “practise hard in order to dive easy” in the lead up to this special dive weekend. Polish your skills, dive within your limits and have a safe, enjoyable dive!