Where are your favourite dive sites in SA?
I’ve enjoyed diving in SA since 1978. As a scuba diver without access to a boat, my favourite spots are limited to the shore or jetties. My favourite dives near Adelaide, along the eastern shore of Gulf St Vincent, are Port Noarlunga reef, Rapid Bay and Aldinga Reef. Most of these dives are ‘jetty-based’. Most jetties are as good as any reef system with abundant plant, fish and invertebrate life.

Can you tell us more about your top dives and what you can see there?

Port Noarlunga
Port Noarlunga reef is an aquatic reserve about 30km south of Adelaide. There is easy access to the reef via steps off the Port Noarlunga jetty. Divers are able to dive beneath the jetty itself, as well as in and around the reef. There’s a self-guided diving trail marked with 12 glass plaques.  The fish, plant and invertebrate life is prolific there! Lots of starfish, bryozoans and corals.

Rapid Bay
A new jetty has been built at Rapid Bay (about 100km south of Adelaide) to replace the old, collapsing one. Divers have easy access to the water from a platform at the outer end of the new jetty. They are then able to swim 30m to the old jetty, which extends much further out to sea. There are two star-dropper trails to assist divers in crossing over to the new jetty. There are so many fish beneath the old jetty and, of course, magnificent sea dragons.

Aldinga Reef
Aldinga reef is another popular aquatic reserve located about 45km south of Adelaide. A boat is required to reach the deeper “Aldinga Drop Off” about 1.5km off Aldinga beach.  The reef drops away to 21m creating spectacular rock formations and swim throughs. I recall some big fish and rays being there. Closer to the beach is the Aldinga Pinnacles with lots of swim throughs and marine life to see.

Tell us about your favourite wreck dives… 
We have some excellent wrecks in SA such as the Glenelg Barge (sunk as an artificial reef in 1984 about 2km off Glenelg beach) and the ex-HMAS Hobart (scuttled in 2002 off the coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula at Yankalilla Bay).

The Star of Greece is about 200m from shore at Port Willunga. The Star of Greece is not too deep and changes with the weather: sometimes it’s buried, sometimes exposed. She is rich in history! The ship was built in Belfast in 1868. The 1227-ton, three masted cargo ship ran aground in a storm in 1888 on her way to Great Britain.

You’ve been diving since 1978 – what’s been a highlight for you?  I almost forgot! South Australia’s crown jewel is Kangaroo Island. I have enjoyed dives at Penneshaw jetty, Kingscote jetty and Snug Cove. The biota I’ve spied there include blue groper, nudibranchs, sea hares, flatworms, basketstars, and gorgonian coral.

(Edited by Yvette Barry)