At the bottom of a section of these cliffs the waters of the Pacific Ocean have carved out an amazing feature that presents a great dive site, especially for the more experienced diver. The actual dive site is located a bit over five kilometres to the north of Point Perpendicular. Go to 35° 03' 40.464" S 150° 50' 25.170" E (this GPS Reading isWGS84- see my GPS Page for more details).

A satellite photo of the location of Cathedral Cave. The entrance to the cave is between the rock surrounded by white water and the cliff.

You anchor at the location above and then enter the water. The actual cave is just located behind the rock which has white water around it. You drop to the bottom (can be up to 23 metres deep depending how far out you are) and then head in towards the right side of the large rock. Once you get closer the depth comes up to 12 metres and you will see there is a large gap between the rock and the cliff.

Head into the gap and you will see the entrance to the cave. It is quite large and you will see nothing at all when you look towards the back of the cave. The cave is quite high and wide. It actually runs quite a way back under the cliff. My guess is that it is about 100 metres long and 20 metres wide and perhaps 10 metres high.

The outside as you approach the entrance. The huge rock is obvious.	The actual entrance to the cave - both photos from GoPro

As you go inside the depth drops again to about 18 metres. The visibility inside is normally at least 20 to 25 metres. As you go in the light disappears and it gets very dark. You obviously need a torch for this dive. At the back of the cave there is a dogleg to the left. This goes perhaps another 20 metres. it is totally dark here and even turning around you will see nothing at all without a torch.

In this section of the cave if you look up, you will see there is a huge air pocket. In fact, it is above the water surface. If you go up, you will see how this site actually got its name, not from the underwater section but here. There is a huge cathedral-like area above water with the roof seemingly high above.

Looing towards the entrance.	Looking back as the divers exit the cave - both photos from GoPro

As you descend again and head back out you can get some great photographs of the entrance. If you have any divers coming towards you will get even better shots. Unfortunately on my only dives here in recent years I only had a GoPro to take photos with as my camera decided to not work. However, you will get the idea from my GoPro photos.

inside the cave there are often wobbegong sharks and in late winter, there are Port Jackson sharks. Once back outside you can spend some time along the wall before you head back to the anchor.

This is a great dive and one of the best at Jervis Bay. A must do for the more experienced diver.