Ian Road is the southern-most of the five Mount Martha gully dives, the last creek gully before the cliffs run out at Martha Point and the coast turns into the Martha Cove marina and the long sandy sweep of Safety Beach. The Scuba Doctor lists it, like its four neighbours, as a 3–5 m shore dive with fairly easy track access, and its page adds only its position at the southern end of the 8 km cliff line. That position matters in two ways: it is the gully nearest the Safety Beach marina entrance, so boats and jet skis pass closest along this shore in summer and a flag is essential; and it is the closest of the five to the marina's cafés and toilets, which is a consideration on a cold morning.

It pairs with Stanley Crescent only 320 m to the north-east, giving two entries for one piece of reef and an easy one-way option. The reef itself is the cliff-foot platform found along the whole coast – sandstone and basalt ledges and undercuts, boulder falls from the cliffs, brown algae and Sargassum on the rock, seagrass in the sandy gaps, shelving to about 5 m – and it holds the eastern bay's rocky-shore community of magpie perch, old wives, zebrafish, leatherjackets, hulafish and bullseyes, with decorator crabs, small octopus and abalone in the crevices, fiddler rays, stingarees and flathead on the sand and giant cuttlefish inshore in winter. South of the gully the reef fades toward Martha Point and the sand of Safety Beach, so the productive direction is north.

Ian Road suits self-sufficient shore divers exploring the Mount Martha cliffs and local snorkellers; it offers no depth or facilities, is exposed to every westerly wind, and is best on a calm high-tide morning with an easterly, when the water over the platform is clear and there is nobody else in it.

From Safety Beach take the Esplanade north along the cliff top to Ian Road, or from Mount Martha village follow the Esplanade south for about 4.5 km. Park on Ian Road or the Esplanade – residential streets with no formal car park – and take the walking track down the creek gully to the shore, 100–200 m with a moderate climb back. Enter over the rock platform at the gully mouth at high tide and swim out to the reef in 3–5 m.

Exit at the same gully or at Stanley Crescent 320 m to the north-east.

The Mount Martha cliff coast faces west-south-west and is fully exposed to westerly and south-westerly winds, which raise a shore break over the rock platforms and make the gully entries slippery and surgy; anything above 10 knots from the west quarter is a poor day. Dive on easterly or north-easterly winds, at or near high tide so that the inshore platforms are covered. There is no current.

Visibility drops for a day or two after rain when the gullies run. Summer sea breezes arrive most afternoons, so mornings are the reliable window.

Enter at the gully mouth at high tide, descend as soon as there is 2 m of water and swim straight out to the 4–5 m reef edge, then follow the rock parallel to the cliffs with the shore on one side for a fixed time or gas fraction. Turn, return along the same line slightly shallower, and surface at the gully.

No regular operator – independent shore divers and snorkellers only.