The 2025 Great Australian Dive Challenge, proudly presented by Spirit of Freedom, has now wrapped up and entrants shared in over 70 prizes worth over $30,000!
The major prizes included:
- Two $2,750 Spirit of Freedom Three-night Cod Hole Liveaboard Expeditions,
- One $3,499 Apollo BCE Drysuit,
- Two $1,750 Scubabo Dive Victoria Port Phillip Heads Two-day Dive Packages,
- One $1,629Scubapro Pro 30 System,
- One $1.299 Cressi Aquawing Plus BCD,
- One $1,095 Scubapro Sidemount BCD courtesy of Perth Scuba
- One $1,014 Adrenalin Snorkel Package
- One $1,000 Sharkskin Australia voucher, and
- Two $750 Enth-Degree Womens Eminence 7mm wetsuit.
Many more prizes, valued between $70 and $740, were also won by entrants!
50 Great Dives is pleased to announce another Challenge
The 2026 Great Australian Dive Challenge, will run from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2026.
The theme for the 2026 Challenge is Wrecks & Awesome Animals and the updated website will have over 130 dive site pages:
One of the goals of the Challenge is to get divers to travel and support dive operators other than their regular dive operator, and in the 2024/25 Challenge:
- 35 of the 50 Great Dives were dived, many multiple times,
- Five of the seven ex-warships were dived, many multiple times,
- 70% of the registered dives were done by divers who lived more than 250 km from the dive site,
- Over 90% of our survey respondents said the Challenge encouraged them to visit other dive sites,
- The 50 Great Dives web site had thousands of hits, and
- Nearly $3,000 was raised the Australian Marine Conservation Society.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society is onboard again for 2026
The Marine Conservation Society will be receiving $10 per entrant (up from $5 in 2024/25) and 20% of all cash advertising and sponsorship.
Also onboard again for 2026 is Spirit of Freedom, DAN World, Apollo, Scubabo, TUSA, Global Ballooning, Scuba Diver Magazine and Dive Log, with many others in the final stages of negotiation.
If you are interested in supporting the Challenge either as a sponsor and Authorised Operator, please contact Steve Sinclair by phone (0418 5 999 53) or email (steve@50greatdives.com).
I was pleased to be a part of 2025 50 Great Dives. I thought I’d get a lot more done, but, sadly I only did a handful. Planning on being part of 2026 50 Great Dives, and doing a lot more diving. Great concept, Steve!