This had to be the best dive site I have ever been to. This was me taking a photo during a compression stop above the HMAS Swan. Which is the most expensive Australian warship ever costing $22 million. She was commissioned on the 20th of January 1970 and served the Australian Navy for 26 years before being scuttled to create an artificial reef. The warship covered about 800,000 miles and carried 250 people.

The HMAS Swan was scuttled almost ten years ago, on December 14th 1997. Situated in Dunsborough, South West Australia in a depth of just over 30m. The Swan is one of the most popular dive sites in Australia most probably due to its sheer size. The wreck is 112m long 13m wide and 21m tall, being only 1.3 miles from shore allows it to be cheap to dive.

If you are looking for or planning your next dive trip or diving holiday in Australia you have to come and visit this wreck. Nearly the whole vessel is penetrable apart from the engine and boiler room, which have been closed off to stop any entanglements. Apart from this you can go everywhere even up and down the lift shafts! There are many diver access holes which have been cut out into the ship so you don’t need to worry too much about getting lost as I can remember seeing one every 20m or so.

Marine life here is excellent, it was one of my very few encounters with a Grey Nurse Shark too. Another diver told me it was a Bronze Whaler but it didn’t look anywhere as stream line and had a shorter head so I’m pretty confident I’m correct. Anyway if it had of been a Bronze I’m glad it wasn’t too curious! There are many Batfish around the top of the mast, some big Samson fish which seem to come out of nowhere, and others such as Bullseyes, Blue Devil fish, awesome Shaw’s Cowfish and some very strange looking Dhufish. There is some small size soft coral growing around the wreck, but of course the biggest dive attraction is the HMAS Swan.

Diving the HMAS Swan Photos