I’ve always been flummoxed by the trend whereby divers who live in Adelaide continually revisit a handful of the state’s innumerable shore diving locations. While the popularity of Rapid Bay jetty, the rocky reefs of Second Valley, the soft coral encrusted columns of the Port Hughes jetty and the built and natural habitats of Port Noarlunga is not undeserved, I’ve compiled this list in the hopes that it encourages divers and snorkelers to branch out and try somewhere new for their next dive or snorkel. Afterall, we’re spoiled in South Australia, with literally thousands of kilometres of accessible coastline, and dozens of accessible jetties and marinas just waiting to be explored.
The list below focuses on shore-based diving and snorkeling sites which can be comfortably visited by car in either a day trip or half-day trip. The list is sorted by travel time, from shortest to longest. Distances are measured in kilometres, times are measured in hours:minutes (one way) and suggestions for the expansion of this list are invited.
If you’re looking for a quick, rewarding snorkel or dive close to metropolitan Adelaide, my suggestions are (in no particular order): Semaphore Jetty, Garden Island, Brighton Jetty.
Data was sourced from Google maps, and travel times are conservative.
Revised and updated:
- 26 August 2017. Thanks to Mark Young for his suggestions
- 5 September 2017. Points of Interest column added, following suggestion by David Muirhead
- 18 July 2019. Added local snorkel/dive tip to article and extra details to P.o.I. column by Dan Monceaux
| Adelaide to… | Region | Water body | Kms | Time (one way) | Points of Interest |
| Henley Beach | Greater Metro Adelaide | Gulf St Vincent | 11.4 | 00:20:00 |
|
| Glenelg | Greater Metro Adelaide | Gulf St Vincent | 11 | 00:21:00 |
|
| Grange | Greater Metro Adelaide | Gulf St Vincent | 13.7 | 00:25:00 |
|
| Brighton | Greater Metro Adelaide | Gulf St Vincent | 15 | 00:26:00 |
|
| West Lakes | Greater Metro Adelaide | West Lakes | 14.3 | 00:27:00 |
|
| Semaphore | Greater Metro Adelaide | Gulf St Vincent | 16.1 | 00:29:00 |
|
| Marino Rocks | Greater Metro Adelaide | Gulf St Vincent | 18.8 | 00:30:00 |
|
| Garden Island | Greater Metro Adelaide | Barker Inlet | 21.6 | 00:30:00 |
|
| Outer Harbor | Greater Metro Adelaide | Gulf St Vincent | 25 | 00:33:00 |
|
| O’Sullivan Beach | Greater Metro Adelaide | Gulf St Vincent | 28.5 | 00:34:00 |
|
| Hallett Cove | Greater Metro Adelaide | Gulf St Vincent | 24.8 | 00:35:00 |
|
| Port Noarlunga | Greater Metro Adelaide | Gulf St Vincent | 31.4 | 00:36:00 |
|
| Ocre Point, Maslins Beach | Greater Metro Adelaide | Gulf St Vincent | 39 | 00:42:00 |
|
| Aldinga | Greater Metro Adelaide | Gulf St Vincent | 43.3 | 00:43:00 |
|
| Port Willunga | Greater Metro Adelaide | Gulf St Vincent | 45.4 | 00:46:00 |
|
| Haycock Point | Fleurieu Peninsula | Gulf St Vincent | 74.8 | 01:07:00 |
|
| Myponga Beach | Fleurieu Peninsula | Gulf St Vincent | 71.5 | 01:08:00 | |
| Carrickalinga | Fleurieu Peninsula | Gulf St Vincent | 74.1 | 01:08:00 |
|
| Normanville | Fleurieu Peninsula | Gulf St Vincent | 76 | 01:09:00 |
|
| Victor Harbor | Fleurieu Peninsula | Encounter Bay | 84 | 01:12:00 |
|
| Lady Bay | Fleurieu Peninsula | Gulf St Vincent | 81.3 | 01:23:00 |
|
| Second Valley | Fleurieu Peninsula | Gulf St Vincent | 90.5 | 01:25:00 |
|
| Rapid Bay | Fleurieu Peninsula | Gulf St Vincent | 99.1 | 01:36:00 |
|
| Morgan’s Beach | Fleurieu Peninsula | Gulf St Vincent | 107.8 | 01:38:00 |
|
| Ardrossan | Yorke Peninsula | Gulf St Vincent | 149.5 | 01:50:00 |
|
| Wallaroo | Yorke Peninsula | Spencer Gulf | 158 | 01:58:00 |
|
| Moonta | Yorke Peninsula | Spencer Gulf | 162 | 02:01:00 |
|
| Black Point | Yorke Peninsula | Gulf St Vincent | 172 | 02:05:00 |
|
| Port Hughes | Yorke Peninsula | Spencer Gulf | 166.1 | 02:06:00 |
|
| Port Broughton | Yorke Peninsula | Spencer Gulf | 175.2 | 02:10:00 |
|
| Port Julia | Yorke Peninsula | Gulf St Vincent | 179.1 | 02:11:00 |
|
port willunga jetty, star of greece wreck, myponga beach and jetty,stansbury jetty, haycock point, lasster’s reef, port turton, port victoria, wallaroo jetty, the edithburg area encopassing port klein to edithburg [ wool bay port giles edithburg jetties ] maybe slightly > 2hrs ,marino rocks , victor harbour has oliver’s reef ,rosetta head ,etc outer harbour grecian wreck
Thanks for your suggestions, Mark. Those within roughly 2 hours travel time from Adelaide have been added to this list. Wrecks and offshore reefs will likely be the subjects of future articles.