1. Rapid Bay
1:40 mins Drive South of Adelaide.
Rapid Bay Jetty is an easy shore dive, accessible by walking down the length of the new Jetty and walking down the steps before a short surface swim over to the structure of the old Jetty where you drop down and navigate T-Shaped structure with fallen pylons and fringed by long sea grass.
What To See
Leafy Sea Dragons, Southern Blue Devils, Giant Cuttlefish, Squid, Bull Rays, Nudibranchs and much more.
The main draw card is obviously the Leafy Sea Dragon (pictured below) which is a truly spectacular creature to witness up close. Masters of camouflage, their leafy like appendages blend into the grass and kelp on the sea bed, so you need to keep your eyes peeled otherwise you might miss them.
A day with good visibility it is a spectacular dive site to navigate, with the structure of the old pier rising high from the ground.
Average Depth 12m
When To Go
The leafy sea dragons are year-round, but with the colder water temperatures in winter it is far more enjoyable to dive in summer.
The temp in January is around 20c and in winter can hit around 14c on average. In winter a drysuit is definitely recommended and in summer months I like my 8mm to keep me nice and warm.
The Dive Site
Whilst the dive site itself isn’t too complicated to navigate, it is a large dive site and finding the elusive Leafies can be a challenge. Whilst I do love a treasure hunt, If I only have a few days to photograph them I would rather spend more time in front of one rather than searching for them.
I would highly recommend calling Pete at sea dragon lodge and getting him to guide you around. This is someone who dives almost every day and has better knowledge of where the leafies are currently congregating, so will save you a lot of time and by not searching across this enormous dive site.
They also offer accommodation and plenty of advice on the local area, so a perfect place to stay.
Side Note: Second Valley which is a 10minute drive away, is also a great dive site and you can also find leafies here. However far less frequent and a more challenging site to navigate and is tidal/ current dependent.
2. Whyalla, Eyre Peninsula.
4 Hours Drive from Adelaide
Whyalla is famed for being the home of the Giant Cuttlefish mating season, which happens every year from around May to September where 10s of thousands of Cuttlefish gather on the shoreline of Stony Point and mate. If you want to see one of natures true wonders, then look no further.
What To See
As well as the thousands of Giant Cuttlefish, you can see seals and dolphins predating on them, as well as Port Jackon Sharks, crabs and Octopus in the area.
However you will be going dizzy trying to work out which group of Cuttlefish you will approach first.
When To Go
For the Giant Cuttlefish the season starts around May and peaks around mid to the end of June. The weekends can get pretty busy with plenty of snorkellers and people on the glass bottom boat tours that run from Stony Point. But during the week, especially early mornings I have dived there and not seen a single other diver.
The time of day doesn’t matter, apart from the lighting. So I like to go at different times of the day to get the varying angles of the sun.
The Dive Site
You drive from the town of Whyalla, about 20minutes outside then turn down a dirt road where you’ll reach a car park right next to the water. Depending on the tides, it’s then a 2-5minute walk across the large slab rocks to enter the water.
Once in the water, the max depth will be around 5m and you only need to swim 20m out from the shore before you start to see the Cuttlefish. With it being a shallow dive, it’s quite easy to freedive, or on Scuba you can last up to 2 hours on one tank- depending on If you can cope with the cold waters. The temperature can get down to 11c, so gloves, socks, a hood and at least an 8mm wetsuit is advised, as well as some hand warmers in the car for afterwards to get the feeling back before you drive.
There is usually a food truck and they have a toilets and changing rooms.
Weather: The dive is South Facing, so ideally you want a southerly wind and swell, or very little wind and swell. A Northerly wind and swell will mean you are likely to have far lower visibility. Whilst still diveable it is definitely less than ideal for your dive.
1. Port Lincoln, 7 hour drive from Adelaide (or short flight)
This is the only dive location listed, which is not accessible via a shore dive: However is well worth the journey and the added cost.
What To See
From Port Lincoln you can take a boat out to the amazing Neptune Islands and find one of the best places in the world to Dive with Great White Sharks (either from a surface cage or floor cage) as well as heading to nearby Islands which present one of the best spots in Australia to swim with Sea Lions.
When To Go
You can witness both throughout the year, however there are two main seasons to consider for the Great Whites which offer different opportunities.
The Winter months from April to June often see the larger more mature females coming into town, whereas the Summer months from December to January often gives you the most consistent sightings with the most numbers seen each dive (plus the water is warmer) at time of writing, the sightings during 2024 were not as numerous as previous years and longer periods of no sightings were witnessed.
The best way to get a gauge of how sightings are going is to go onto the operators pages and see the current and historical sightings page
For the Sea Lions, most tours run from September to June/July with better conditions often found in the winter months.
Who To Go With
There are two operators which run out of Port Lincoln:
Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions:
They Run Liveaboard trips where you stay overnight on the boat for a minimum of 3 nights and offer the chance to drop below the surface in their ‘’Floor Cage’’. Which means you must be an open water certified diver. Or you can just do the surface cage which hangs over the side of the boat and doesn’t require an open water certification.
They also offer longer trips to see the sea lions, as well as winter trips for up to 7 days where you can also see Giant Cuttlefish at Whyalla, and Leafy Sea Dragons.
Calypso Star Charters: https://sharkcagediving.com.au/
Calypso run day trips only, from Port Lincoln and offer three packages: Great Whites and Sea Lions combo trip, or either the Great Whites or Sea Lions as a solo trip.
I personally did the Great Whites and Sea Lions as separate trips, so allow the most time possible to spend with the Great Whites. Sometimes you could be waiting there for hours for a shark to show up, so I didn’t want to have to leave to go and swim with sea lions if we hadn’t had enough time with the sharks. We were fortunate enough that a Great White came straight away, which meant we had two goes in the cage with them.
4. Edithburgh Jetty.
2.5 Hour Drive from Adelaide
Edithburgh is a macro photographers dream, with such a diverse amount of marine life all in a small dive site that’s easy to navigate as its just up and back down the jetty there.
What To See
The highlights here are the Bob Tail and Pyjama Squids, which usually are buried in the sand: so you will have to look out for little eyes poking up out of the sand. The Blue Ring and Sand Octopus are amazing animals, especially during a night dive when you can see them out hunting.
There are several types of Angler Fish (Frog Fish), lots of Nudibranchs, seahorses and pipefish as well as the occasional leafy sea dragons that can be seen here.
When To Go
Most of the animals will be seen year-round, so your main choice is whether you do a day dive or a night dive. As mentioned earlier: the night dives are great for seeing certain animals like the Octopus more active than they usually are during the day. I personally find for macro that when you are restricted to seeing only what’s in the field of view of your torch light, it narrows your perspective and helps you spot the smaller critters more easily.
The Dive Site
If you want an easy dive then you can just stay underneath the confines of the Jetty and swim up and back, otherwise if you stray a little wider from the Jetty in the sea grass you may be more likely to find animals like the Leafy and Octopus. If you are doing a night dive, it is advised to do a day dive first and get your bearings of the site first before you go at night.
There is a carpark right next to the Jetty then it’s a 5minute walk over to the steps where you can walk down and jump in, so entry and exit is pretty easy unless there is a big swell washing against the steps of the jetty.
Weather: The Jetty is dead East facing, so any wind or swell coming from the West is fine, anything from the East is going to affect visibility. So check for swell and wind forecast before you go.
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