South Australia

Australia

Apart from the difficult entrance, the marine life is quite plentiful.

The wall that curves around the point has plenty of crabs and sometimes crayfish.

A good place for spotting Leafy and Weedy Seadragons!

Difficult entry via rocks down to the water. 

Encounter Bay

The Bluff

A very easy recreational dive with very easy access and a very diverse amount of marine life in the summer. Plenty of sea grasses, with Lasseter's Reef nearby.

Excellent opportunities for spotting the very elusive Leafy & Weedy Seadragons!

Easy access to either the shore or the jetty steps from the very close car park.

Second Valley

Great opportunity to see Leafy Sea Dragons. Fantasic photography. Schools of fish towards the end of the jetty. Like an underwater forrest.

Able to drive a car close to the jetty. entry via steps at the end of new jetty, then a short swim across to the old.

Rapid Bay Jetty

Ex-HMAS Hobart (D39) was a Perth class guided missile destroyer of the Royal Australian Navy. It was decommissioned in May 2000 and sunk as a dive wreck on 5 November 2002.

She now sits level on the sand at 30m with the main deck at approximately 15m. Before being sunk the ship was extensively prepared as a dive site with many hole cut into the side allowing light to enter and providing views into the wreck from the outside.

ex-HMAS Hobart is a boat dive, boat normally leave from Wirrina Cove ramp which is 4.2 miles from the wreck.

Activities in the vicinity of the ex-HMAS Hobart wreck are legislated under the Historic Shipwrecks Act 1981. A protected Zone has been established and a permit is required to enter within 550m of the site.

More information can be found at www.exhmashobart.com.au  




Ex-HMAS Hobart

Visibility is quite variable, so pick your tide and weather conditions for the best experience. You'll be greeted by drummer, old wives and sweep when you first drop in, they are residents around the last pilons on the jetty. Check the ocean floor for wobbegongs and rays, look for brilliant seastars and ascidians on the reef walls and above all, have fun!

This suburban dive site presents easy parking, and a walk of a few hundred metres out along the jetty. From there, you climb down a staircase, and gently drop into the sea. The jetty has a 'no take' zone at the end of it, so you don't have to worry about getting tangled in recreational fishermen's lines. The jetty abutts the reef, which runs perpendicular to it, and can be explored in either direction. This site is in the Onkaparinga Estuary Aquatic Reserve.

Port Noarlunga Reef

The Barge is the sister sip to the Dredge, and used to carry sand before being sunk as a dive wreck.

The deck is only 12m or so, and the bottom is about 18m. Typically there will be schools of fish, crabs, sea cucumbers. Wreck penetration is not recommended as there is lots of piping.



Glenelg Barge

This site is generally known just as "The Dredge". It's the sister ship to "The Barge" which is sunk nearby and is an easy swim (star droppers show the way).

This is probably one of the best wrecks available to OW divers in SA. The deck is about 14m, and the sea floor is 20m making is a easy dive.

There is typically a few schools of fish swimming over the wreck, plus crabs, cuttlefish and other creatures hiding under the hull.



The Dredge is also known as The South Australian 'The Dredge'.

The Dredge

Leather Jacket Alley is similar to Broken Bottom. Apparently there are naturally formed gutters, but visually is similar to other SA sites. There are a number of different types of fish that come here however, including the Leather Jacket the site is named for.



Leather Jacket Alley

Visibly is good, but be aware that the lack of distinctive features make it easy to get lost.

A common training dive.

Broken bottom is part of the original Adelaide shore line.

Broken Bottom

Not is big as Rapid Bay jetty but still a great little pier dive. Plenty of colourful sponges, zebra fish, crabs, butterfish and also has the famous Leafy Seadragons which are a must see in SA. If heading to KI well worth throwing in a set of dive gear and a camera. 

Easy pier/shore dive. Free car parking is right beside the pier. You can either go in via the shore as it drops away quite quickly or from the pier. Very easy access due to parking being only a few metres from the water so no long walks with gear on your back.

Kingscote Pier

One of the most amazing dive sites in South Australia! The jetty teams with marine life in the daytime, but simply over spills at night!

A must for any diver that is on the Yorke Peninsula.



The Bluff

Snorkeling and Scuba Diving at The Bluff