Sites that work for snorkellers as well as divers: shallow reefs, lagoons, piers and sheltered bays where a non-diving companion can join in. Many are also the best first dives.
96 sites · the first 48 shown as cards, the rest listed by state below
Yorke Peninsula · SA
Arguably Australia's best jetty dive: 150-year-old piles smothered in sponge and ascidian growth hosting anglerfish,…
Mount Gambier Sinkholes & Caves · SA
50 m-plus visibility in a cliff-walled sinkhole that Open Water divers can dive with an approved operator; midday light…
Eyre Peninsula · SA
Australia's only licensed great white shark cage diving, beside the country's largest fur seal colony – surface cages…
Adelaide Metro · SA
South Australia's most popular shore dive: a sheltered reef lagoon reached by jetty stairs, with an underwater trail,…
Fleurieu Peninsula & Victor Harbor · SA
South Australia's signature leafy seadragon site, entered by an easy staircase from the new jetty into shallow seagrass…
Whyalla & Upper Spencer Gulf · SA
The world's only mass aggregation of giant Australian cuttlefish – tens to hundreds of thousands of displaying, mating…
Snorkel with endangered Australian sea lions at Jones Island and a resident dolphin pod in chest-deep water – one of…
A one-way drift through three gin-clear spring ponds over meadows of aquatic plants – easy, beautiful and open to Open…
Playful, endangered Australian sea lions spinning around snorkellers in a clear, shallow cove, plus a 30 m-to-4 m…
Kangaroo Island · SA
Leafy seadragons, seahorses and giant cuttlefish under an easy town jetty – Kangaroo Island's reliable fall-back dive.
The lower Yorke Peninsula's go-to sheltered dive and a first-class night dive, with pyjama squid, slipper lobsters and…
A 417 m 1911 jetty with prolific cowfish, anglerfish, seahorses and weedy seadragons – one of SA's best macro and night…
A quieter, beach-accessed section of Adelaide's most popular reef, away from the jetty crowds.
A short, pretty jetty dive in a historic windjammer port, best on easterly days, and the base for the Wardang Island…
Small caves and a right-angled swim-through in folded cliffs, with occasional seadragons, at one of the Fleurieu's most…
A shallow, easy jetty and seagrass site with a good chance of leafy seadragons, ideal for snorkellers and new divers.
An 1868 Belfast-built iron ship wrecked in 1888 with the loss of 17 lives, lying in snorkelling depth 200 m off Port…
One of the most reliable leafy seadragon sites in South Australia, in water so shallow a single tank can last well over…
Scattered iron barque remains among the rocks of Wardang Island's wild western shore – an atmospheric snorkel on flat…
The quickest Yorke Peninsula jetty dive from Adelaide – shallow, easy and full of crabs, pike and rays under the piles.
A quiet country jetty on a coast of easy 2-4 m snorkelling reefs, with eagle rays and Port Jackson sharks on the…
A sheltered, little-documented headland reef in Nepean Bay near Kingscote.
Limestone Coast · SA
Shallow ledged limestone reef with seadragons and rock lobster, a short walk from Beachport.
A sheltered 772 m jetty in Rivoli Bay – easy pylon diving and night dives when the open Limestone Coast is blown out.
Quiet beach snorkel over seagrass on a shack-lined point – not a scuba site. Not to be confused with Black Point near…
A convenient shallow snorkel beside Adelaide's rebuilt 1886 jetty on a flat day.
Sheltered granite and limestone ledges and caves at the Boston Bay entrance, plus offshore Donnington Reef – next door…
Big stingrays visiting a working cray-boat jetty in the evenings – a sheltered option when the reef is blown out.
Shallow ledges, caves and high bommies below the cliffs, where cleaner clingfish can be seen servicing larger fish.
An easy shallow day or night dive in the last town before the Nullarbor, with critters in the old debris.
Dozens of Port Jackson sharks resting in a few metres of water in early summer, reachable with a short walk from the…
A quiet, very shallow village jetty over seagrass – a gentle snorkel minutes from Edithburgh.
Shallow seagrass snorkel in sheltered Franklin Harbour, on a coast of easy 2-4 m reefs with eagle rays and Port Jackson…
A sheltered, lit steamer-era jetty in near-enclosed Waterloo Bay – Elliston's all-weather day or night dive.
A quiet, sheltered north-coast jetty with weedy seadragons and cuttlefish over white sand.
Quieter cuttlefish viewing at the northern end of the breeding grounds, away from the Stony Point crowds.
A remote historic jetty on the edge of the Nullarbor, in a bay where southern right whales calve each winter.
An easy city night dive among jetty piles and debris, with cuttlefish, octopus and nudibranchs.
A historic timber jetty on Adelaide's northern beaches, suitable for a calm-day snorkel.
An alternative sea lion swim venue in Lincoln National Park, with boulder bommies and swim-throughs on its south-side…
A quiet reef spreading several hundred metres from a small islet at the southern end of Maslin Beach.
A convenient, uncrowded southern-suburbs shore dive beside the geologically famous Hallett Cove Conservation Park.
Harlequin fish and giant blue groper at a historic lighthouse landing, reached by a steep 750 m track.
A city jetty behind Henley Square over a sandy bottom – a local calm-day snorkel.
An easy reef snorkel in front of the Frenchmans Rock monument, a short walk from the ferry.
A shallow horseshoe-shaped reef off Christies Beach that is ideal for snorkelling and part of the summer Port Jackson…
A remote north-coast reef with longsnout boarfish and herring cale, reached by 4WD along the beach.
Anchors and timbers of the 1884 barque Fanny M hidden in a sheltered weedy reef off Kingscote.
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