Nullarbor
Pannikin Plains Cave
- Max depth40 m
- CertificationFull cave
- Water temperature≈ 17–24 °Cestimated, no reports yet
- SpecialRopework
Diving and fills
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What it looks like
Uncharted Depths: The Thrilling Story of the Pannikin Plains Cave Diving Expedition! Pannikin Plains cave dive. Pannikin Plains Cave : Under the Aussie desert 2023 Nullarbor Caves, Pannikin Plains Cave, Tommy Grahams Cave, cave diving location, adventure, 4x4 trip
All 4 videos and posts
Videos and posts
From other divers, via YouTube, Instagram and Facebook. They only load when you click; after that, Google's or Meta's privacy rules apply.
Uncharted Depths: The Thrilling Story of the Pannikin Plains Cave Diving Expedition! Pannikin Plains cave dive. Pannikin Plains Cave : Under the Aussie desert 2023 Nullarbor Caves, Pannikin Plains Cave, Tommy Grahams Cave, cave diving location, adventure, 4x4 trip
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Other people's footage, not advice: how someone else dives here says nothing about what suits your team. Dive within your training.
The dive
The entrance lies ~90 m above the water. You dive in brackish water, with visibility as far as your lights reach. After the 1988 flood the cave was closed for years; it has been open again to qualified divers since 2018.
1 earlier accident or incident has been reported at this cave. Read what happened ↓
Profile and sections
The entrance lies ~90 m above the water. You dive in brackish water, with visibility as far as your lights reach.
After the 1988 flood the cave was closed for years; it has been open again to qualified divers since 2018.
- Depth and profile
- Sump 1 is a tunnel with the roof at ~20 m and the floor at ~40 m, nearly 1 km long, to Concord Landing (a dry chamber with a lake); then sump 2, Chapel Hill (2016) and sump 3 (small, silty, ~22 m). In 2023 divers on rebreathers and scooters went more than 2 km.
- Configuration
- Roomy first sump; rebreathers and scooters for the long dives. CDAA rating: Cave and Advanced Cave.
- Gas
- Trimix from 40 m
Who can dive where
- At least Full cave
- Configurations: Backmount / twinset / Sidemount / CCR / Small cylinders / no-mount (speleo sumps)
- Goes down to 40 m (trimix or deco may be needed)
- Ropework (SRT) needed
- Experienced divers only
This is how the planner decides who in your team may dive this cave. Rules your own trip adds (organizer, a mail, the AI) show with your trip.
How to get there
Near Cocklebiddy; manager DBCA. Strict conditions: closed from 1 November to 31 January; at most 8 divers per permit and 6 permits a year, with 2 weeks' rest between; someone in the team has been in before; SRT qualifications, surface-to-lake communication, a risk and emergency plan for DBCA and a bat monitoring form afterwards. Gear goes down a 50 m flying fox and a 20 m rope pitch; eight people needed 1.5 days to get everything to the water.
Around Pannikin Plains Cave
FillsNo fill station known nearby
News
All (1)
Accidents and incidents
What happened at this cave before, with the sources. No names are given; read it as a lesson for your own planning.
- In late 1988 a storm flooded the cave and collapsed the entrance; fifteen expedition members were trapped for days and rescued without serious injury.
Access and rules change: check what applies locally right before your trip. Source: GDELT Project and the news feeds of diving magazines. Search for more news ↗ Searched automatically, last on 5 Nov 2026.
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