Australia & New Zealand · Australia
Mount Gambier — Limestone Coast
Spring-fed limestone ponds and sinkholes for Open Water and cave divers alike
Photo: Mark Whatmough · CC BY 2.0
Mount Gambier, in South Australia, is freshwater diving in water-filled limestone sinkholes and spring-fed ponds. Ewens Ponds and the open lake zone of Kilsby Sinkhole take Open Water divers on a permit or a booked tour, while Little Blue Lake, Gouldens Sinkhole and Piccaninnie Ponds sit on the cave-diving ladder of the Cave Divers Association of Australia. Piccaninnie Ponds, with its Chasm and Cathedral, is shut to divers until further notice.
About diving in Mount Gambier — Limestone Coast
Diving here starts from the water's edge of inland ponds and sinkholes, reached by car from Mount Gambier, and each site has its own access rules. Ewens Ponds needs a permit and a booked one-hour time slot, with no more than two dives or snorkel sessions per person per day. Access to Kilsby Sinkhole is tightly controlled for insurance and liability reasons: the public reaches it on a pre-booked sinkhole or snorkelling tour, and only limited independent diving is allowed. A guided double dive pairs Ewens Ponds in the morning with Kilsby in the afternoon, so divers adjust to fresh water before the deeper site.
The sites are water-filled limestone sinkholes and ponds. At Ewens Ponds channels link three basin-shaped ponds about 10 m deep, and the water is clear enough for plants to grow fully submerged to about six metres. Piccaninnie Ponds holds the First Pond, an open depression about 10 m deep with a silt floor and a vegetated fringe, the Chasm, a sinkhole over 100 m (330 ft) deep, and the Cathedral, an enclosed chamber of limestone formations. Gouldens Sinkhole is an open cenote that the CDAA nonetheless classes as a cavern.
Open Water divers can dive Ewens Ponds, an easy site, and Kilsby Sinkhole, a medium one best left until after a dive at Ewens for anyone not used to these conditions. There is no swell, no rip and no ocean predator to plan around. Most other freshwater sites require cave-diving qualifications from the CDAA, which trains to three levels, Deep Cavern, Cave and Advanced Cave, and several divers have died exploring the caves beneath Piccaninnie Ponds.
Best time to dive Mount Gambier — Limestone Coast
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good |
| Daytime high | 33°C91°F | 32°C90°F | 30°C86°F | 26°C79°F | 21°C70°F | 17°C63°F | 17°C63°F | 18°C64°F | 21°C70°F | 24°C75°F | 29°C84°F | 30°C86°F |
| Rain | 37 mm1.5 in | 26 mm1.0 in | 40 mm1.6 in | 42 mm1.7 in | 65 mm2.6 in | 82 mm3.2 in | 91 mm3.6 in | 78 mm3.1 in | 62 mm2.4 in | 57 mm2.2 in | 59 mm2.3 in | 41 mm1.6 in |
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good |
| Daytime high | |||||
| 33°C91°F | 32°C90°F | 30°C86°F | 26°C79°F | 21°C70°F | 17°C63°F |
| Rain | |||||
| 37 mm1.5 in | 26 mm1.0 in | 40 mm1.6 in | 42 mm1.7 in | 65 mm2.6 in | 82 mm3.2 in |
| Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good |
| Daytime high | |||||
| 17°C63°F | 18°C64°F | 21°C70°F | 24°C75°F | 29°C84°F | 30°C86°F |
| Rain | |||||
| 91 mm3.6 in | 78 mm3.1 in | 62 mm2.4 in | 57 mm2.2 in | 59 mm2.3 in | 41 mm1.6 in |
2011–2025 averages. Daytime high and rain: NASA POWER.
The spring water holds steady through the year; Ewens Ponds closes to divers from 1 September to 30 November.
Best months: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, December
Mount Gambier water temperature and weather by month
Most rain falls from May to November, peaking at about 90 mm (3.5 in) in July; February is the driest. Daytime highs reach 33 °C (91 °F) in January and drop to 17 °C (63 °F) in July. The coldest water here is about 10 °C (50 °F), so pack a drysuit.
Dive types & marine life
Ewens Ponds is one of only three recorded locations for the golden pygmy perch, and also holds schools of short-finned eel, river blackfish, pouched lampreys, mullet and common galaxias. With the ponds shut to divers from September to November, these fish are a December-to-August sighting.
- Freshwater
- Cave & cavern
- Freshwater fish
Best dive sites in Mount Gambier — Limestone Coast
- 1
Ewens Ponds
Three limestone sinkholes joined by channels, with plants growing submerged; open to Open Water divers on a permit.
- 2
Kilsby Sinkhole
Tightly controlled sinkhole whose open lake zone runs to 27 m with no overhead, reached on a pre-booked tour.
- 3
Little Blue Lake
A local swimming hole that is also a nationally known cave-diving site on the CDAA Deep Cavern list.
- 4
Gouldens Sinkhole
An open cenote in limestone country, classed as a cavern by the CDAA.
- 5
Piccaninnie Ponds
Holds the Cathedral, an enclosed chamber about 35 m deep, and a chasm over 100 m; closed to divers until further notice.
Site guides
Cave & cavern
A flooded cave running under the streets of Mount Gambier
Freshwater
Drift through three linked limestone ponds on an Open Water certificate alone
Freshwater
A roadside sinkhole in 30-million-year-old limestone
Freshwater
Mount Gambier's cave-training sinkhole, CDAA-rated Basic Cave
Freshwater
Farmland sinkhole diving to 40 m in water that runs 30 to 60 m of visibility
Freshwater
A 50 m cenote starting at 25 m, with a 1966 car resting on its silty floor
Freshwater
A limestone chasm over 100 m deep, reached through a Ramsar wetland pond
Freshwater
A metre-wide hole in a paddock over a 140 m chamber
How to get to Mount Gambier — Limestone Coast
Mount Gambier has an airport with car hire, and a car is needed for the sites outside the city. Ewens Ponds lies 36 km south of Mount Gambier, and Piccaninnie Ponds 32 km south-east of it, or 482 km south-east of Adelaide.
Photos from Mount Gambier — Limestone Coast
No machine-readable author provided. Roo72 assumed (based on copyright claims). · CC BY-SA 3.0
User:Chuq · Public domain
Questions divers ask
Can divers without cave certification dive at Mount Gambier?+
Yes. Ewens Ponds takes entry-level scuba divers, and Kilsby Sinkhole's lake zone takes Open Water divers on a pre-booked tour. Most other freshwater sites need cave-diving qualifications from the Cave Divers Association of Australia.
Is a permit needed to dive Ewens Ponds?+
Yes. Each diver needs a permit, single or annual, and a booked one-hour time slot before arriving at the park, with at most two dives per person per day.
Can Piccaninnie Ponds be dived?+
Not at present. The park is closed to diving and snorkelling until further notice, which takes the Chasm and the Cathedral off the list for now.
What exposure protection do divers need?+
A full-length wetsuit of at least 5 mm is the minimum for guided dives at Ewens Ponds and Kilsby Sinkhole.
Sources
- https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Diving_in_South_Australia — en.wikivoyage.org
- https://dive-experience.rezdy.com/437237/fresh-water-double-scuba-dive-ewens-ponds-kilsby-sinkhole — dive-experience.rezdy.com
- https://www.mountgambier.sa.gov.au/news/visitor-centre-hosts-tourism-industry-evening — www.mountgambier.sa.gov.au
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piccaninnie_Ponds_Conservation_Park — en.wikipedia.org
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ewens_Ponds — en.wikipedia.org
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilsby_sinkhole — en.wikipedia.org
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Blue_Lake — en.wikipedia.org
- https://www.outbackmag.com.au/into-the-blue/ — www.outbackmag.com.au
- https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Mount_Gambier — en.wikivoyage.org
- https://www.parks.sa.gov.au/parks/piccaninnie-ponds-conservation-park — www.parks.sa.gov.au
- https://www.parks.sa.gov.au/parks/ewens-ponds-conservation-park — www.parks.sa.gov.au
Photo credits
- Two divers among weed in the clear blue-green water of Piccaninnie Ponds by Mark Whatmough, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- The vivid blue crater lake at Mount Gambier seen from the vegetated rim by No machine-readable author provided. Roo72 assumed (based on copyright claims)., CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Blue Lake filling its crater with steep bush-covered slopes around it by User:Chuq, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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