One Of The World’s Best Sinkhole Dive Sites Is On An Aussie Farm – And It’s Now Open To The Public
Forget the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, one of the best sinkhole dive sites on the planet – the otherworldly Kilsby Sinkhole – is located here in South Australia in the middle of a working farm. This year, it opened to the public for the first time.
Surrounded by the rolling green paddocks of a working sheep farm 14km south of Mount Gambier on the SA Limestone Coast, you’ll find an incredible and ancient geological gem: a 60m-deep freshwater limestone sinkhole.
The world-class dive site is renowned for its breathtaking visibility and insane water clarity, but it’s also got quite the history to accompany it, having been a watering hole on former stock routes, a training site for the SA Police, a centre for secret weapons research and a dive spot.
For a long time, scuba diving in Kilsby Sinkhole was only available to highly trained cave divers but this year it’s become the only dive site of its kind that welcomes snorkellers, freedivers and Open Water certified scuba divers under the supervision of a licensed and industry qualified guide.
You can dive into the “lake” portion of the sinkhole and experience the crystal-clear waters and amazing beams of light that have made this sinkhole a world-famous dive site. The guiding beams of light pierce right down to the depths of the sinkhole, giving off UFO ‘beam me up, Scotty’ vibes.
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If you’re not a diver, that’s OK. You can take the sinkhole tour and learn about its history with a guide, or there is also a snorkelling tour. But the sinkhole isn’t the only fabulous thing on the property – you can also experience a gin tasting.
Inspired by the “gin-clear” water of Kilsby Sinkhole and the abundance of first-rate local ingredients, the Kilsby family and a few friends were inspired to create Sinkhole Gin. Crafted in small batches using water from the aquifer which feeds the sinkhole and botanicals sourced around the region, it’s quite the way to round out a solid day in this eerie underwater paradise.
Guided tours start at $15pp and scuba diving from $99pp. For more information, click here.
Here are other amazing things to get up to in South Australia and if you’re keen to dream, check out these seven of the world’s best diving experiences.
(Lead image: Adam Stern / Tourism SA).
